Broken Wings of Freedom
by PsychoRien
Summary: Freedom. That's all we've ever wanted. They buy us, brand us, and step over us like they're god. And, even when we escape, they still haunt us. It's hard to think that we won't ever be free. (In which Luffy is an escaped slave and the Strawhats are left in the dark.) Freedom Rewrite. AU
1. Chapter 1

_What happened?_ Luffy tried to lift himself up, but failed miserably. His arms wouldn't listen to his brain. He could only lift his head up an inch before they gave out his his head crashed back onto the frigid stone ground. Luffy's head pounded and his ears rang. He shook out his head to get rid of the ringing and he tried opening his eyes. The moment they opened, his left eye stung and he had to close it again to ease the pain. Only his right eye remained open, which he blinked several times before he could remotely figure out what was in front of him. He saw some blurry figures moving around and one of them opened the bars. Who were they? What was going on? He saw the figure bend over and a huge grabbed him by the arm roughly. Luffy tried to scream in pain, but his voice wouldn't work. The figure lifted him up and tossed him out of the cell.

"Get up!" The figure shouted. It was a man. He sounded scary too. Luffy tried to get up, but his arms wouldn't work again and he lied there. The man grunted and picked him up and set him feet first on the ground. Luffy didn't like the cool feeling under his feet. He usually wore sandals. The man let go and Luffy stood on his own, legs trembling like leaves in a breeze. "Move it! We don't have all day!"

"But, I don't wanna." Luffy managed to argue with the little defiance he had left. The hand pushed him forward, making Luffy stumble, but he regained his balance in time.

"Move!" The man shouted, terrifying Luffy. Luffy bit the bottom of his lip and sniffled before he started taking slow steps forward. The man growled in frustration and picked him up by an arm, carrying him to the end of the hallway before setting him down and grabbing some shackles that were hanging from the wall. He grabbed Luffy's arm and clamped a cuff around Luffy's wrist, then the other. Instantly, a pang of tiredness and fear washed over Luffy's body. What was happening to him? The man clamped the cuffs around his ankles too. The cuffs were on too tight and rubbed against his bones.

"These are too tight!" Luffy whimpered, trying to adjust the cuffs by rubbing them against the stone ground.

The man snorted, "Deal with it, you spoiled brat." He wrapped a heavy stone-like collar around Luffy's neck and locked it with a key. He tossed the keys so they landed on the hook in the wall, making a jingle sound. "Give them a show, you little shit. Don't disappoint me." Luffy had no idea what he meant by that. He was led onto a stage with blinding light and the man shoved him onto the ground, leaving. Luffy wanted to scream for him not to leave, but his throat was still raw and hurting. He didn't know what to do. His eyes finally adjusted to the light and he was greeted by his worst nightmare. Cheering broke out from the crowd in front of him. The announcer gestured towards him with his left arm, the other hold a microphone. Luffy's eyes widened in what could only be describe as one word. Fear.

"Entry number 36 is the youngest of them all! Luffy!" The announcer spoke, his voice full of confidence. "But, don't let his age fool you! Younger bodies can do many things older entries cannot do! Not only that, but he appears to have the ability to stretch like rubber, due to the devil fruit power of the Gomu Gomu no Mi!" The announcer walked up to Luffy's trembling form. There were tears in the corners of Luffy's eyes. He wanted to shouted at the man to not get closer. He wanted to run, move, do something! But fear took complete control over his body and he couldn't do a thing. The announcer grabbed him by the cheek, pulling on it. His cheek stretched to an unbelievable length and the crowd gasped in surprise. "With his rubber ability he is superiorly durable!" The announcer let go of Luffy's cheek, which snapped back in place. Luffy gritted his teeth. Tears threatening to spill.

_No, don't cry! You can't cry!_ This can't be happening to him! It can't! The nobles started chattering amongst themselves before the first bid was revealed.

"150 million beli!" One shouted. Luffy's breathing hitched. No. He must have been imagining that.

"200 million beli!" Another shouted. There was paused from a few seconds.

Suddenly, a disgusting voice rang across the auction house. "500 million beli!" The crowd gasped and turned their heads to see one of the Saints grinning like a fool. The bottom of Luffy's lip trembled. _Someone. Someone help me! Gramps. Makino. Mayor. Shanks!_ To his horror, the announcer banged the wooden mallet against the gravel table.

"Time is up!" The announcer called. Luffy sniffled. _No, no, no, no, no. Wake up, Luffy! Hurry and wake up! _The Celestial Dragon looked disgusting. His face was plump and his lips were fat. There was snot hanging from his nostril and he wore a disgustingly smug grin.

"I did it." Was what had come out of the man's mouth.

"Well, thank you for your attention up until now! The prize this time, goes to World Noble, Saint Charloss!" And Luffy's world came to an abrupt stop.

* * *

Luffy's eyes contorted into fear as he saw the Celestial Dragon take an iron brander from the rack and shove it into the hot coals. Luffy backed up against the wall, trembling. The guards kicked him so he was in front of the Celestial Dragon, back exposed. Luffy couldn't move. The terror was taking over his mind. His eyes widened as the iron brander left the hot coals and the Celestial Dragon grinned in sadistic pleasure. The brander was brought down upon his back. A soon as the molten iron touched his skin, Luffy let out an ear piercing scream.

* * *

Luffy couldn't open his eyes. He tried to, but he just had no energy. The sharp stinging in his back was too great. The smell of dried blood polluted the cell and the hot, sticky feeling all over his body wasn't helping either. He guessed that it was blood. Made sense. Luffy's eyes started to water. Why? Why was this happening to him? What did he do to deserve this? He was going to be a pirate! He was going to be Pirate King! He was going to be the freest... He was going to do so many things... His stomach rumbled and he just realized he hadn't eaten in a while. His lips were extremely dry too. He forced his eyelids to open and right in front of him was a small bowl of water and some stale bread. Come on! Move, you stupid body! His finger twitched and moved a millimeter closer to his target. After what seemed like an eternity, Luffy had finally grabbed the bread and brought it to his mouth. He took a small bite, not caring that it tasted like someone just packed some mud together and baked it. Bite by bite, a fraction of Luffy's strength came back. When he finished the bread, his arms felt good enough to push himself off the ground and into a sitting position. His hands shakily reached for the bowl of water and grabbed it. He brung it up to his mouth and drank a bit before setting it back down. He reached backwards for his straw hat, which was dangling around his neck. He shoved it down on his head and curled up into a ball. He wanted someone to save him. He wanted someone to comfort him or even just sit with him. Someone. Anyone. He let out a yawn. He was really tired. Maybe just a little nap... Just a little- Suddenly, he guards down the hall marched towards his cell and opened it.

"Your work begins today, slave! Get up!"

* * *

Luffy held the broom in his hand, vigorously brushing all the dust away in the kitchen. The cooks in the kitchen had taught him how to make food and he accidentally made one of the stoves go up in smoke. The head chef was not happy and he had to stay behind and clean everything up. The guard became frustrated with his slow pace and kicked him in the back, ordering him to hurry up. The kick would have hurt if the tip of the guard's metal shoe wasn't pointed and if his back did still burning and sting like crazy. Luffy forced the bristles of the broom down on the floor to ease the pain and continued dusting until he was done. Saint Charloss walked in, staring down at Luffy with no real expression. Luffy stared right back, gritting his teeth together. The noble's foot came flying toward him, nailing him in the stomach. Luffy was sent towards the ground.

"You have no right to look at me like that, you filthy slave." Saint Charloss growled, picking his nose. Luffy coughed a few times, a trail of spit running down his chin. He was no slave! He was a pirate! Pirates were free! No one could order them around. No even a Saint. Luffy turned his head up to glare at Saint Charloss again, glaring at him with intense hatred. Saint Charloss didn't tolerate it at all. "Guards! Take him away! Teach him a lesson!"

"Yes, Saint Charloss!" The two guards grabbed Luffy's by the arms and dragged him away, ignoring the kicking and threats from the smaller boy.

* * *

_Break him. His body, his mind, his spirit, his will. Make sure he never defies the gods again._

* * *

Luffy held a piece of scrap charcoal in his hand and made a tally mark on the wall. Today was his birthday. Luffy placed the piece of charcoal in the corner and sat in front of the wall, staring blankly. His stomach growled and he ignored it. When was he going to get food again? He wasn't sure. Luffy looked at his strawhats that was lying on the ground peacefully. He stared at it for a minute before smiling. _I was stupid, wasn't I?_ He hadn't touched that hat in 10 months and 5 days. _Pirate King? What a joke. Life isn't that wonderful for some people, right Shanks?_ He wondered how Shanks was doing right now. Probably having fun and partying like they usually did. Luffy tored his eyes away from the hat regretfully. It's not like he had any future in a place like this. He completely lost sight of his dream. His will was shattered like glass, leaving cuts on the inside, letting him bleed out. Why did he still fight his master? He didn't know. He had no reason to disobey. _Why am I fighting?_ He looked at the shackles around his wrists. He grabbed to one on his right wrist and twisted it. The shackle teared at his raw skin, but Luffy didn't show any signs of emotion. He pulled on it, which didn't help either. His lead his wrist down to the ground and lightly tapped it against the ground. _Why am I still defying them?_ He tried to pull apart his wrists, but the chain bought them to an abrupt stop. He gritted his teeth and turned the bottom of his wrists up to look at the holes for the keys. _Why… Why am I still here?_ He balled up his fists and punched the ground hard, which skinned his knuckles. He unravelled his fists and stared down at his open palms. His eyes started to water and he felt the wet droplets beat against his hands. _No! Stop being a crybaby! No emotion! Stop!_ He pleaded his eyes to stop raining, but the tears kept coming. He pleaded his body to stop shaking, but to didn't listen. _Stop crying! Stop… please._ He bent over onto his knees, his head and elbows against the stone ground. His arms covered his eyes and his arms were drenched in seconds. Whimpers of pitifulness escaped his mouth and he sniffled. Still crying, he lift his head and looked over to his straw hat again. The hat that symbolized his dream, his promise. The hat that was once his treasure. His arm moved towards the hat shakily. He was about to touch it before his hand stopped. _I can't touch it again. I don't deserve it._ His fingers stiffened before he snatched the hat gruffly and hugged it against his chest. He crushed the hat with his arm, rolling onto his side. The feeling of the familiar straw didn't comfort him at all. It brought him more pain, and his sobbed harder. But, letting everything out in one moment felt just a bit… better. He heard shouts across the hall and wiped his eyes vigorously, sitting up. He stuffed his hat into the corner hastily and lied back down, facing away from the entrance of the cell. The shouts grew even louder and Luffy could understand them.

"Put me down, you bastard!" One shouted. Luffy's eyes widened. It sounded about his age.

"Let us go! We're not serving you, you rotten trash!" The other added. Luffy's breathing sharpened. So, Saint Charloss decided to get more children. What a sick bastard. He heard the cell door opened and the sound of two bodies hitting the ground echoed throughout the cells. The gate closed with the sound of clashing metal. "Hey! Get back here!"

"Let us out! Hey!" Luffy felt bad for the two, having to suffer like him. His finger twitched, but his stopped it. He was a loner. These two would soon learn that no one survives if they rely on each other.

Today was officially the most fucked up day in history, according to Ace. First, he and Sabo were pickpocketing people, and then some weird guys with cloaks showed up and kicked their asses, then they were both shipped to an auction house and sold to the most demented, ugliest, retarded people in the world. Great. This was just wonderful. Eventually, they stopped shouting because their voices were getting way too raw for this crap. Ace growled and punched the hard stone ground with his fist, pouring all his anger into it. It actually made a dent. Sabo, on the other had was gritting his teeth, pacing back and forth, obviously terrified.

Ace pinched his cheek. "Why this just be some sick, twisted dream that we can still wake up from? Why?" Sabo stopped pacing and saw a kid on the ground, with his finger twitching and decided to investigate. He kneeled down behind the body and shook the child's shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked. The child rolled over and looked up at his with tired and absolutely blank eyes. It disturbed Sabo with how lifeless and dull they were. It was as if this kid were blind. Maybe he was. No, that wasn't the case. The child looked at him with mild interest.

"So, you're new." He muttered. After a few seconds of the child staring at him. "Master sure has terrible taste." The child finally uttered.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Ace growled, now sitting next to Sabo.

"I'm that it was bad luck that he chose two people that are close to each other." The child explained, his voice could be described at bored.

"May I ask why?" Sabo replied, cautiously.

The child gave Sabo a look as if he were stupid, which made Sabo slightly feel like he was actually stupid. "Isn't it obvious? You can't survive here if you're thinking of someone else's well being instead of yours." Ace and Sabo reflected on what the child had just told them. The child rolled back over, his back facing the two. "You two seem close, no? All the more reason to stay away from each other."

"You can't just expect us to do as you say!" Ace countered, not in the mood to take this kid's bullshit.

"I'm not expecting you to do as I say." The kid muttered. "Just advice for the future."

Sabo's eyes softened. "So, you were in the same situation as us?"

The child scoffed. "No. But, I know everything about this place."

"You must have had someone you cared about a lot, right?" Sabo pushed on. The child didn't answer. "Well, you don't have to say if it's personal…" Sabo added quickly. "My name is Sabo, by the way." He pointed towards Ace. "This is Ace. What's your name?"

The child stayed silent for a moment. Ace was about to speak before the child's voice cut him off. "Luffy." The child replied, rolling back over to face them.

"Nice to meet you, Luffy." Sabo tried his best to brighten up the situation with a smile, though he knew it wouldn't help. He felt Luffy's hand grip his shorts before his eyes widened and his quickly took it away.

"Sorry." He murmured. "Hearing someone say my name again made me think that you were him…" Sabo didn't answer. Ace growled and crossed his arms.

"I'm not going to stay here." He growled. "We're going to escape!"

"That is literally impossible." Luffy cut in, dispelling of the idea immediately. "If you attack the Celestial Dragon, they'll send the marines and an admiral after your ass."

"Well, we can't just sit here and stay their slaves!" Ace retorted.

Luffy smiled. "I can tell you have something you want to accomplish. What is it?"

"We're going to be pirates!" Ace exclaimed.

Luffy just kept his blank smile. "Give it up." Those simple three words made Sabo and Ace freeze.

"W-What did you say?" Ace growled. Sabo looked at his friend worryingly.

"I said to give it up." Luffy repeated. Ace grabbed Luffy by the collar of his shirt and held him up so they stared each other straight in the eye.

"What do you know about us!?" Ace shouted. "Our dreams are important to us! We're going to be free, damn it! How can you say that so calmly!?"

"How can you get so aggressive," Luffy started. "Over stupid things like dreams?" Ace's fists tightened around the shirt even more. "This world is sick. It's the reason why where are Celestial Dragons and slaves. Fate is a bitch. That is why we are here to serve some retarded World Noble. God isn't real. You can't pray that you'll hopefully get out of here some day. I already tried. Dreams are lies. They get your hopes up and then scatter you when you realize that you'll never be able to do what you want. Don't you think I'm right?" Ace didn't answer, he just dropped Luffy and turned his head away. Luffy dusted himself off and lied on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

"You had a dream too, right?"

Luffy's head shot to his side to look at Sabo. "What?"

"The way you talk. I can tell." Sabo explained. "What was it?"

Luffy gritted his teeth and looked over to his straw hat in the corner of the cell. "I was going to be King of the Pirates." He whispered. Ace's mouth was slightly a gap and Sabo just stared. "It's a stupid dream, I know." His eyes softened fondly and his hand twitch, wanting to have his hat by his side just one more time. "I made a promise though, and I broke it-" His was cut off by Sabo shoving the hat down on his face. Luffy shot up, knocking the hat away. "I don't deserve it!" He shouted. "Don't give it back to me!" He pressed his lips into a thin line. Sabo was startled by Luffy's reaction. He knew that the kid didn't hate it, but he acted like it was the plague. "I gave up on my dream. This is my reality." He added. "Everything good that has happened in my life before this is like a dream to me." Ace and Sabo didn't say a thing. Luffy turned to look at them with watery eyes. "Hehe. I was foolish. Don't you agree?"

* * *

**Woo! I finished! I promised you I would have this out soon, so here it is! The remake of Freedom! I would have upload this thing sooner if it weren't for my stupid internet. (It sucks!) Well, hope you liked it and I'll hopefully have another chapter out soon!**

**BYE!**


	2. Chapter 2

Ace and Sabo didn't know what to do. How could their freedom be stripped from them so easily. Just by some mark on their backs. They knew one thing though. The pain was unbearable and they just wanted it to stop! They couldn't even move, just hanged from the guard's hands like some sort of ragdoll. They heard the cell door open and they were airborne for a second before crashing onto the stone, which sent another wave of agony through them. They would scream if their throats weren't raw already.

"Work starts tomorrow." The guard grumbled before loudly shutting the cell and locking it. Ace and Sabo didn't move. The burning on their backs felt like the iron brander was still there, pushing itself into their skin. Everything hurt. They just wanted to sleep. Make the pain all go away. Just drift off…

* * *

Luffy sat in front of the two, hugging his legs close to his chest. His hands twitched and he slowly reached towards the two before his hands stopped and stiffened. They trembled uncontrollably. What was he doing? They were going to help themselves. He was a loner. These two weren't anything to him. _But, they'll die…_ What was he thinking? He made it through just fine. These two were probably stronger than him anyway. _But, they're in pain… _They would get over it, right? Luffy looked at the bandages wrapped around his arms and felt the ones wrapped around his head. Against his mind, he untied the knot in the bandage and started unraveling them. The sticky bandages pulled on his skin and at the cuts that were underneath. When he finished unwrapping the bandage he started wrapping them around the bloody burn on Sabo's back. When he finished, he tied it together. He took off the bandages on his other arm and started wrapping Ace's back. The bandage didn't wrap the entire wound. Luffy reached for the bandage around his head and pulled it off, tying it to the other one and completing the wrapping. His newly opened cuts stung again. The wound on the side of his head didn't waste time to start bleeding again. The sticky liquid ran down the side of his face, and he didn't bother to wipe it away. He took his hands away from the two and looked down at them. _Why did I help them?_

_Because you don't actually want to be alone._

* * *

"I told you to watch the fire." Luffy grumbled.

"It's not my fault the thing suddenly exploded!" Ace argued, shark-teethed.

"The soup boiled over and the liquid spilled on the switch and seeped through the cracks and blew the stove up. If you were watching the fire then it won't have happened and we wouldn't be here cleaning up your mess." Luffy explained in an unwavering monotone. Ace gritted his teeth and 'tch'-ed. Sabo just sighed.

"Ace. Shut up and we can clean up faster." Sabo said, resoaking his towel in soap water and wiping the floor.

"Take your friends advice." Luffy suggested.

"You can't order me around when you're only 6!" Ace retorted.

"8." Luffy corrected, washing his towel out in the soap water and wiping his area of the kitchen. Ace stared at him.

"There is no way you're 8, kid." He finally replied.

"Malnourishment, no protein, fruits, vegetables, or dairy, and not even a pound of grain a week? Yeah, I think I'm 8." Luffy muttered. Ace bit the bottom of his lip. What a brat.

"Smartass." Ace grumbled. Luffy didn't react.

"Ace." Sabo spoke in a warning tone. "Show some more respect for someone who saved our lives."

Ace raised an eyebrow to him. "How?"

"You really don't think those Celestial jerks actually patched you up, do you?" Sabo replied. Luffy stiffened and Ace's eyes widened. "Besides, where do you think his bandages went? They wouldn't just disappear into thin air." Ace's head snapped around to looked towards Luffy, who's back was facing him. Luffy scrubbed the same spot on the floor the entire time. Ace's eyes hardened.

"He's right." Ace finally said. "Why did you help us? I thought you said that we can't worry about each other."

"It was out of pity." Luffy said loudly, hastily… Regretfully. Broken. He started coughing into his fist and clutching his chest with his other hand.

"H-Hey, are you alright?" Ace asked, reaching his hand out. Luffy's chest tightened and he instinctively whipped around and smacked the hand away.

"Don't touch me." Luffy snarled. Ace was shocked to say the least. "I told you to worry about yourselves, not each other. If you worry about me, you won't be able to protect yourselves." Luffy dropped the dirty rag into the tub of soap water and stood up. He walked over to the wall, grabbed a dust pan and a broom and started cleaning up all the ashes on the floor. "Being alone is better than death. No one can hurt you that way."

Ace and Sabo just got back to work, but Luffy's words rang in their minds. _Being alone is better than death…_

* * *

_You don't think that true._

"_Shanks, what would you do if you were alone?"_

"_What's with the sudden question, Anchor?"_

"_I was just wondering, since you look so happy when you're with your crew."_

"_I don't know what I would do. They're my family… What would you do?"_

"_I don't know either! I hate being alone. Being alone is… worse than death!"_

_**You don't think that's true at all.**_

* * *

Luffy rolled over and his eyes locked onto Ace and Sabo, sleeping next to each other without a care in the world. _Being alone…_ Those words he said to them… Why was he thinking about them so much? He was alone, damn it! He wasn't like them. He was broken. Shattered. He had no hope. They did. They had will. They were the polar opposite of him.

He had already drowned.

Ace and Sabo didn't know what to think about Luffy. At first, Ace thought he was just an emotionless little smartass. He never interacted with them and acted like a machine. Sabo thought that he was constantly in pain. His eyes looked dead and his voice had no emotion. Ace and Sabo could both agree on something though. At first, it was like Luffy didn't care. But know, they didn't know what to think about him anymore. First he helps them with their wounds, then takes blame for over cooking the food, and now they had to sit there, helplessly listening to the choked screams echoing from down the hallways from a child who did nothing wrong.

"I don't get him at all!" Ace growled. He flinched when he heard another scream. "First he tells us to fend for ourselves, then goes ahead and patches us up, then takes the blame for burning that Celestial shit's food!"

"I don't get it either, Ace." Sabo replied. "But I might have an idea. We'll just have to see-" The sound of a metal door slamming open bounced off the stone walls. There was sounds of metal clanking down the halls and two guards appeared with Luffy in tow. The guard with Luffy unlocked the cell and threw him in. The other guard tossed a roll of bandages and a dirty rag in and placed a bowl of water on the ground. Ace quickly ran over to Luffy's side and kneeled down. Sabo grabbed the bandages and rag, joining Ace. The guard looked down at them and Ace bristled, baring his teeth like a wild dog. The guards paid no mind to this action and slammed the cell shut, locking it and stomping away. Ace snaked his arms under the boy's head and place him on his lap. Luffy winced in pain and grunt escaped his mouth. Sabo wet the rag in the bowl of water and started cleaning him up. There were cuts all over his body, along with the dark section around his left eye and on his left side. They were probably bruises, but they could tell because of how dark the cell was. Sabo pressed down on the dark part on his hip and Luffy groaned. Yep, probably a bruise. Luffy's eyes slowly opened and blinked a few times.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ace asked. Luffy turned his head to look at Ace and blinked.

"I'm fine." Luffy muttered before shooting up into a sitting position. He winced and grabbed his bruises side.

"Woah, you shouldn't get up so fast. You're hurt." Sabo tried to gently push him back down, but Luffy moved away. Sabo blinked in confusion.

"Please don't touch me." Luffy replied coldly. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. It's nothing new…"

"Don't give me that crap!" Ace shouted. "You tell us to worry about ourselves and then protect us! What goes on in that head of yours?" Luffy bit the inside of his cheek. "Why are you helping us?"

"Because you're different from me!" Luffy finally spoke. "You two are still holding onto your dreams. I already gave up on mine. I'm already dead!" Ace and Sabo stared at Luffy because of his last statement. "I can't live like this anymore!" Luffy clutch his head with both hands and curled up into a ball. "Ever since you came, you've broken down every wall that I've ever built! I can't take it! Just leave me alone! I already told you that being alone was better than death!" Sabo moved closer to the child. This was the first time they could see exactly how _broken_ Luffy was inside. He pulled Luffy into a hug. "Just go away…" Luffy whispered, his breaths growing shaky.

"You're not dead." Sabo told him. "You're not alone. We're both here for you, okay?" He saw Ace reach for the straw hat in the corner of the cell and shoved it down on Luffy's head. Luffy moved his hands to try and pull it off, but Ace held it down.

"We're going to get out of here." Ace muttered. "And, don't you dare drop this hat until we do."

The only response they heard was Luffy silently sobbing, the hat shadowing his watery eyes.

* * *

**Hi guys! Hope you liked this (short, damn, only 1701 words...) chapter and hope you had a wonderful Christmas!**

**Responses:**

**FindingThatDamnedOnePiece: Update!**

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**msk 12 98: We'll see.**

**Aqua468: Heehee**

**Jessica Season: I'm really glad you like it so far! Hope this chapter was satisfying!**

**InsaneFoxLove: Here's a tissue. Hope you liked this chapter!**

**XxFire-PhoenixxX: Yeah, it's an ASL centric and then they have Whitebeard, then Luffy will go on to form his crew.**

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**general yumi: Yeah, I feel that way too. This chapter is mostly in Ace and Sabo's perspective. Hope you liked it!**

**Shadow Of The Fallen Sage: Here's the update! Please don't hate me! *bows repeatedly***


	3. Chapter 3

Luffy didn't know what was going on, but his chest felt tighter than usual. Or maybe is was just his imagination, but he swore breathing has gotten a lot harder.

"Hey, Luffy! Are you okay?" Ace called over from his end of the hallway.

"I'm fine-!" Luffy called back before breaking into another coughing fit.

"You don't look fine!" Ace replied, scrubbing the floor.

"Hey, you two! Less chit chat and more cleaning!" The guards grumbled. Ace just 'tch'-ed. Sabo scrubbed the other end of the hallway until he met Luffy in the center, scrubbing the tiles next to him.

"Hey," Sabo whispered next to Luffy, too low for the guards to hear. "I can help clean some of your section so you can rest a bit. You don't looks so good."

"I'm fine." Luffy insisted. He didn't want to be a burden, now that they decided to help each other. This wasn't anything special anyway. Despite Luffy's words, Sabo and Ace still helped the younger boy clean up his section of the hallway.

* * *

The guards tossed Ace, Sabo, and Luffy into their cell like they were sacks of potatoes and slammed the gate shut. Luffy pushed himself up and glared at the spot where the guards were. The guards payed no mind and marched away, the sound of clanking metal slowly fading into the distance. Ace and Sabo sighed.

"I'm beat." Ace yawned, stretching out his limbs. "I don't know about you two, but I could use some sleep."

Sabo nodded. "Good idea." He turned to Luffy with a worried expression playing at his face. The child looked as if he had just sprinted an entire marathon. His face was a darker shade and his breaths became louder and more labored. "Luffy, you should rest too. You'll pass out if you stay awake much longer."

"Sure." Luffy breathed and lied down, shifting around slightly to try and get comfortable. Well, as comfortable as you can get with a cold stone ground. Ace and Sabo crawled over to him and both lied down on opposite sides of the child, cuddling in with him. "Ace and Sabo are warm..." Luffy mumbled sleepily. The two older children looked at Luffy with surprised eyes before they heard his breathing soften and confirmed that he was asleep. Ace felt Luffy's forehead with his hands.

"He's burning up." Ace said, his gaze fixing on Sabo. Sabo reached for Luffy's hand and cupped it between his own hands.

"His hands are freezing though." Sabo added, rubbing Luffy's hand between his, tryin to warm it up. "I'm pretty sure he's sick." He said.

"Damn." Ace muttered. "He never tells us these things."

"He's Luffy."

"Point taken." Ace yawned before closing his eyes. "Good night."

"Night."

* * *

"I don't wanna."

Ace and Sabo shot Luffy a surprised glance. They've seen Luffy cover them up and take the beatings for them, but they have never seen Luffy outright defy the Celestial Dragons in their face. Sabo reached out and placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder.

"Lu, what're you doing?" Sabo whispered into his ear. Just then, he felt something hot and sticky under his hand and he lifted it off to take a look. Sweat? Sabo looked at Luffy again and saw sweat covering Luffy's face, neck, and shoulder, drenching his t-shirt. Ace seemed to notice as well and turned his head to Sabo with a worried look.

"Say that again, slave." The Celestial Dragon growled.

"I don't wanna." Luffy muttered, a bit more harshly.

Stupid, stupid Luffy. His temperature was messing with his mind.

"Filthy slave! You can't defy me like that! Guards!" The guard's hands reach out to grab Luffy, but Ace grabbed Luffy by the wrist and pulled his closer, not caring about the sticky feeling afterwards.

"Don't touch him." Ace warned, pulling Luffy's head closer to his chest. The Celestial Dragon's teeth clenched and a vein started popping out to signify his annoyance.

"You don't get it!" Sabo shield Luffy and Ace with his arms. "Luffy's sick. He's not being himself. He needs medical attention."

Saint Charloss just snorted picking his nose. "I don't care. Any lowlife slaves who defies me shall be punished!" Ace's arms stiffened and tightened around Luffy. Luffy let out a small groan of discomfort. Ace's shirt was already drenched in the spot where Luffy's head was. The guards grabbed the trio by the wrists. They struggled, trying to pull their wrists out. Ace looked ready to attack with his foot before Sabo set him a hard glare. Ace turned his head to Luffy, who was digging his fingernails into Ace's shirt and lowered his foot. Luffy came first. If they attacked the guards, Luffy would also be in trouble. They stopped struggling and let the guards drag them away. Hopefully they could protect Luffy from what was coming next.

* * *

The cell gate shut close and the guards marched away behind the Celestial Dragon, leaving the trio and a rag, some water, and some bandages in the cell. Sabo let out the air he had no idea he was holding and drew in deep breaths. He pushed himself up and looked over to Ace. "Hey, Ace. You okay?"

Ace pushed himself up and nodded. "Fine." Sabo nodded and turned around to look at Luffy. Luffy's breathing wasn't deep anymore. It was shallow. Sabo placed a hand of Luffy's shoulder and shook him.

"Come on, Luffy. Wake up." Sabo spoke in a hush tone.

"Sabo…" Luffy turned his head to look at him. "It hurts…"

"Where?" Sabo asked. Luffy moved his hand and pointed at Sabo's stomach. "Stomach?" Luffy nodded. Sabo lifted his shirt and saw a huge dark spot the spread across his stomach.

"Is it bad?"Ace asked, looking at Sabo.

"I think it's a bruise." Sabo said, touching the dark spot and Luffy groaned, shifting away. "I think we should wrap it though, just to be safe." Sabo pressed a cold hand against Luffy's forehead. The child moved into the touch and sighed.

"Sabo's hand feels good."

Sabo smiled and ruffled Luffy's hair. He turned to Ace. "Sit him up while I wrap the bandages." Ace nodded and pulled Luffy up into a sitting position and let the child slump against his chest. Luffy's breathing seemed to become a lot easier after that. He snuggled his head into Ace's shoulder. Sabo started tightly wrapping the bruise which made Luffy stiffen. Ace noticed his hand started to ball up and held onto it. Luffy unravelled his hand and clasped it around Ace's in a crushing grip. Ace found himself surprised that he had _flinched_ at the pain in his hand.

"Hey, are you done?" Ace asked, keeping the slight pain out of his voice.

Sabo teared off the excess bandages and tied it up. "Yeah. I'm done now." Ace let out a sigh when Luffy let go of his hand and he shook it out. "Feeling okay, Luffy?" Sabo asked, looking around for any other wounds. Just some more whip slashes and that was it.

"Yeah." Luffy mumbled. "You guys need help too." He tried sitting up on his own, but Ace pulled him back.

"Oh, no you're not." Ace said. "And don't even try to argue. You're pretty much dead on your feet."

Luffy let out a huff and lean back into Ace. "Whatever. Just make sure to take care of your wounds-" Luffy breath hitched and his entire body was rattled with coughs.

"Hey, take it easy." Ace soothed, rubbing circles on Luffy's back. Luffy let out a few more small coughs before relaxing.

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up." Luffy muttered.

"Obviously." Sabo said, taking the bowl of water and pressing it against Luffy's mouth. "Drink."

"But I'm not thirsty-"

"Drink it." Sabo forced the bowl closer against Luffy's mouth. Luffy eyed the water doubtfully. "Look, you're supposed to drink lots of water when you're sick, okay? You're going to drink it even if I have to shove the entire bowl down your throat." Luffy hesitated before starting to take small gulps of water from the bowl and Sabo sighed. "See. Not that hard." Luffy took his head away. Sabo frowned. "Come on, a bit more?" Luffy shook his head.

"Tired. Wanna sleep." He rolled over onto his side and clutched Ace's shirt, snuggling in. Ace just sighed in defeat and let Luffy lie on him until he heard Luffy start to snore and gently placed him down on the floor. Sabo grabbed the rag on the ground and soaked it in water before twisting it and placing it on Luffy's forehead. Sabo turned to Ace and smirked mischieviously.

"He's cute, isn't he, Ace?"

Ace blinked at Sabo before his cheeks turned a darker shade. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing." Sabo looked away innocently and whistled. Ace started moving but no sound came out and his cheeks got even darker.

"What's wrong with your head!?" Ace was finally able to shout, his voice extremely flustered. "I don't think about him like that!" Sabo just bursted out laughing, pointing at Ace and clutching his stomach. The tears of laughter welled up in the corners of his eyes. "Shaddup!" Ace growled.

Sabo gasped for air and his giggles died down before he waved his hand like he was fanning the air and grinned like a lunatic. "Calm down! I was making a joke!"

"Sabo!"

"Be quiet..." Luffy's ragged and sleep strained voice sounded. "Stop shouting. My head hurts enough already..."

Ace patted Luffy on the head. "Yeah, go back to sleep." Luffy leaned into Ace's touch and relaxed before he fell asleep once more.

"Cuuuute~" Sabo whispered teasingly. Ace turned to Sabo and was about to sharply retort before he halted his voice and grumbled.

"Shouldn't we start treating ourselves?" Ace asked, changing to subject.

"Touché, dear brother." Sabo replied. He started looking around his arms and legs for injuries. "A few cuts and scrapes. The only major one is the knife wound I got to the shoulder."

"Same here." Ace added. "Except I got a knife to the leg."

"Better start wrapping them up." Sabo said grabbing the bandages and unraveling some.

"Is it just me," Ace muttered looking back down at Luffy, who now hugged his straw hat close to his chest, curled up into a ball. "Or does knowing that we got more wounds protecting him make them hurt less." It wasn't a question.

Sabo sighed and the corners of his lips upturned. "You're not the only one, Ace."

* * *

Ace and Sabo were frantic. Luffy had just gotten worse the next day, complaining about stomach aches and a sore throat. He refused to drink any water to the point where Sabo and Ace had to force him to comply. He couldn't even sit up because of how much his stomach hurt. Saint Charloss had threatened to throw them into the ocean before his father came along and lectured Charloss about his patience and told him to "give the filthy slaves a few days to try and save their worthless little friend" which obviously earned a growl from Ace and a sneer from Sabo. Now, the Saints had given them a few days to fix Luffy up, which at first was a great relief before they realized that a few days might not be enough. A migraine had just kicked in and Luffy had screamed when it happened. They've never heard Luffy scream before, not even during the most brutal punishments. For just something as simple as a headache to earn such a loud scream terrified them to no ends. They had no idea what to do. They didn't have anything here. No bed, no medicine, no nothing. Sabo just pulled Luffy into a tight hug and murmured about how things were going to be just fine. Luffy let out another whimper and the two hands he had on his forehead pressed harder, trying to ease the pain. Sabo could only hold him tighter, not knowing what else might be best. Ace just tried to stay calm and sat beside Luffy, telling him that he would be okay and that it was just a headache. It would pass. After a while of whimpering and pleads and reassuring words, Luffy finally took his hands away from his head and opened his eyes. Ace and Sabo could feel the tired smiles of relief wash over their faces and they looked down at Luffy, who looked back.

"Is it over?" Luffy asked cautiously, as if he had just walked out of hell.

"Yeah, you made it." Ace replies. Luffy sighed and his hands flopped down. "Feeling okay?"

Luffy blinked a few times before answering. "Yeah. My stomach still hurts though. I don't think I can keep anything down if I eat it." Luffy curled up in Sabo's arms and his arms overlapped his stomach, pressing down. Sabo grabbed the straw hat hanging around Luffy's neck and placed it on the child's head, hoping it would do it's magical thing and make everything better. Luffy let out a few choked coughs before sighing.

"Sorry." He spoke in a hush tone.

"For what?" Ace asked, a bit annoyed. "This isn't your damn fault! It's those damn Celestial Dragons' and how that think they're the most important."

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts."

"But it's not really their fault." Luffy muttered. Ace and Sabo exchanged looks of confusion before turning to Luffy with the same looks. "This has happened to me a lot throughout my time as a slave..." Ace and Sabo stared at Luffy in disbelief and horror. This monstrosity has happened to Luffy multiple times? "There were some points where I actually thought I would die, and at some point, it might just kill me as we know it..." Luffy coughed weakly and Sabo rubbed circles on Luffy's back. "I didn't want to tell you guys because I didn't want you to worry about me." He tightened his fists. "I don't wanna die." That one, simple, generic statement was like a bullet to the brain for the two older boys. Luffy, the boy who had given up on life when they first met him, talked about him having no future, about his dreams being nothing, about already being dead, just said that he didn't want to die. This sickness wouldn't really take his life, right? This couldn't take his life. How can someone as tough as Luffy be killed by something like a sickness? It was impossible. But seeing Luffy right now, in the midst of sickness, telling them that he felt like he might actually die...

"I really don't wanna die, guys."

* * *

Fuck Celestial Dragons, fuck earth, fuck life, because Ace felt absolutely helpless and he hates every second of it. Sabo rinsed out the rag in the bowl of water and twisted it before placing it on Luffy's head once more. Sabo sighed, sleep deprivation clogging his breath. The two had stayed up taking care of Luffy for god knows how long. Sabo's head dipped down before his eyes started fluttering shut and he flopped down, his back hitting the stone ground with a muted plop. Ace shook his head awake and quickly turned over to Sabo and shook his shoulder.

"Oi, Sabo. You okay?" Ace asked, the lack of sleep also getting to his voice. It was hoarse, his throat was sore, it didn't feel good in the slightest.

Sabo opened his eyes and turned to his head to Ace. "I'm fine…" He spoke in a hush tone, his voice also hoarse. "Just sleepy as hell right now." He pushed himself back up and glanced towards Luffy. The kid was definitely suffering more than they were. Luffy groaned and rolled over, holding his stomach in his arms. Earlier, he had another migraine attack even worse than the one before and when it was over, he constantly whimpered for the two older ones to stay with him and his voice could barely reach a whisper. Ace sneezed and rubbed his eyes. Sabo sent him a worried glance.

"Feeling alright?" He asked. Ace nodded.

"Luffy's our main consern right now." Ace replied staring at the younger child, who coughed a few times and Ace rubbed his back.

"True," Sabo started, "But we can't take care of Luffy if you fall sick too."

"I'm fine, seriously." Ace insisted. Sabo wore a look of uncontentment with Ace's answer and reached out to place a hand on his forehead.

"Look who's talking." Sabo muttered. "Get some sleep, I'll watch Luffy for now."

"I don't need-"

"Now." Sabo's voice left no room for arguments and Ace sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but wake me up if he gets worse."

Sabo waved it off with his hand and nodded. Ace huffed and flopped down onto the stone, not caring about how uncomfortable it was. His eyes fluttered shut and sleep crashed over him like a tidel wave. Sabo sighed and looked towards Luffy again. Damn it all! What was he supposed to do? Luffy was suffering and they couldn't do a thing to help him! Luffy's eyes slowly opened and Sabo instantly perked up, stumbling on his knees as he crawled closer to Luffy's side. Luffy blinked a few times before he turned his head towards Sabo. Sabo felt a relieved smile take place on his face as Luffy opened his mouth to speak.

"Sabo..." Sabo then frowned at the weakness in the voice. "Where's Ace?" Luffy asked.

"He's sleeping right next to you." Sabo said, a bit amused when Luffy turned his head to see Ace sleeping like a child, curled up in a loose ball and his thumb close to his lip. Luffy sighed, with resulted in a few weak coughs. Sabo patted Luffy on the back and the coughs subsided.

"How are you feeling?" Sabo asked. Luffy's arms tightened around his stomach and Sabo frowned. "Still stomach?" Luffy nodded. The older boy mentally cursed. Luffy couldn't eat or drink anything because of stomach pains which just made his condition even worse.

"Can't breath..." Luffy choked out. Sabo gritted his teeth.

"It'll be ok in the end, Lu." He promised. "You'll be fine." Luffy took in a deep breath and shifted closer to Sabo.

"I don't wanna die." He whispered.

Something in Sabo just snapped and he felt a wave of panic wash over him. "You're not gonna die!" Sabo shouted fiercely. "You're gonna make it, just stay strong!" He then added a bit more gently, "You've made sit through this before, right? You can make it through this again." Luffy nodded weakly and snuggled his head closer to Sabo, which made the rag on his head fall off. Sabo sighed and placed the rag back on his head.

"It's too warm right now." Luffy complained.

"You're freezing cold, Lu. Your body is just tricking you into thinking that."

"Don't care. I still think it's warm." Luffy replied. Sabo reached for Luffy's hand and started rubbing it between his own, trying to make his body temperature more regular. Luffy's hands felt like ice cubes right now against his own. Luffy tried to pull his hand away, but failed due to his weakened state. "Sabo's hands are too warm. They don't feel good anymore." Sabo gritted his teeth even harder.

"Your hands are really cold right now, Lu. I'm trying to warm them up."

"But they're already warm..."

"No they're not."

"Sabo..."

"Yeah?"

"Can't breathe."

"Try taking deep breaths." Luffy tried to but only ended up coughing and wheezing. Sabo saw something dark dribble down Luffy's chin from the corner of his mouth and wiped it with his finger. He brought it up to his nose. Blood. Sabo wiped it away on his shirt and rubbed Luffy's back until the coughing subsided. Sabo snaked one arm under Luffy's back and another rested on Luffy's chest. He lifted Luffy's back into a sitting position to help his breathing. Luffy slumped in Sabo's army's and his head leaned against the older's chest. His breathing seemed to get a but better. He felt sticky sweat clinging to his arms but he didn't even care at this point.

"Sabo..." Luffy murmured. "Something in my mouth tastes weird. Tastes like blood..."

"I'm sure it's nothing." Sabo assured, doing a pretty good job of keeping the panic out of his voice.

"Okay..." Luffy breathed out. He shifted and closed his eyes. "Can't stay awake. Wanna sleep."

"Then sleep." Sabo watched as Luffy relax in his arms and fall into a peaceful sleep. He rubbed his eye if an arm full of sweat and he looked down a Luffy. The kid's clothes were drenched and there was a smudged line running from the corner of his mouth to his chin. Sabo didn't care if his clothes got drenched to, he didn't care about his sleep deprivation, he didn't care right now, because all he could do was listen to the helpless weight in his arms breathing becoming shallower and shallower.

* * *

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" Ace cursed over and over again. He wanted to make sure the heavens could even hear it. If there was such thing as god then he must be some kind of messed up sadist freak because Luffy didn't deserve any of this. The child was fighting for air in Sabo's arms. Sweat drenched his body and now he was way to warm. The stone that he was lying on a few minutes ago, which should still be fridged cold was warmed up. The Celestial Dragons didn't even give a damn and just kept reminding them of how helpless they were in this situation. Luffy covered his mouth and coughed violently into his hand. Sabo rubbed the younger's back, not know how else to subside the coughing. Ace rinsed out the rag ing the old bowl of water that somehow still had some coolness in it and placed the wet rag on Luffy's forehead. Luffy brought his hand away from his mouth and Sabo gave the hand a weary look. More blood. Ace brought his hand up to his forehead to rub his temples, hoping to cure his growing headache.

"Are you okay?" Sabo asked, worryingly. "We don't want you getting the same thing as Luffy."

Ace waved it off. "I'm fine. Might just be from lack of sleep." Sabo nodded a bit and turned to Luffy. "You should worry about yourself too." Ace spoke up. "You've been sleeping less than I have. You probably don't feel that great either."

"It's mostly the sleepiness that's talking." Sabo let out a tiny humorless laugh. "I've never felt this helpless in my life. I hate it."

"Yeah, me too." Ace muttered looking at Luffy and pushing the younger's loose bangs out of his face. Luffy shifted and let out a like grunt of discomfort before he tucked his head beside Sabo's chest, his bangs falling over his face again. Sticky breaths clung to Sabo's shirt and he lifted Luffy's back more up to help with breathing. Luffy gritted his teeth at the sudden movement. Sabo whispered an apology.

"Fuck this." Sabo muttered. Ace sent Sabo a shocked look. That's one new thing Sabo has said since they've been here. "We can't do anything but sit around and wait for some miracle to happen! Before, we could always use brute strength to get out of sticky situations! Now, we're just sitting around, not able to do anything but just watch! This isn't fair!" Ace looked down at the ground and gritted his teeth. He knew Sabo was right. If there was some chance of a miracle, it was disguising itself damn well, and Ace didn't appreciate that, neither did Sabo. In their own pent up frustration, they didn't even notice Luffy's hand move until Sabo felt Luffy's warm hand press itself over his mouth.

"Shut up." Luffy mumbled bluntly. "Not your fault." It was one of the few sentences Luffy was able to complete without coughing or just breaking off in the middle. His hand fell away from Sabo's mouths and flopped onto his stomach. "Miracle, right?"

"Yes, Luffy." Sabo assured, reluctantly. "We'll find a miracle."

* * *

"Shanks once taught me a song..." Luffy started. Sabo and Ace looked down at him, interested. The child never really talked about Shanks before. "He said you sing it to lift people's spirits up-" He broke off and started coughing. Sabo rubbed the younger's back. "He sung it in the bar this one time with the rest of the crew..." Luffy then turned to look at the two older ones. "Maybe we can sing it..."

"Why not?" Sabo answered. Ace nodded, smiling. "What does it sound like?"

"It's called Binks' Sake." Luffy spoke before opening his mouth again. "Yohohoho~ Yohohoho~..." Ace and Sabo looked at each other before their minds clicked.

"We've heard this before from somewhere!" They exclaimed in usion. Luffy flinch at the level of their voice and they silently gestured an apology.

"But where did we hear it?" Ace wondered, his chin resting on his hand.

"I think I heard it from one of the merchants docking in High Town when I was trying to find money." Sabo suggested.

"I don't know where I heard it though." Ace muttered, a bit disappointed.

Luffy stuck his tongue out at Ace tiredly. "Too bad." Ace scowled playfully at the child. "Going to deliver Binks' Sake~ Following the sea breeze, riding on the waves~..." Sabo and Ace smiled softly. How could such a weak voice effect them so much? They started joining in. They wanted the entire hall and slaves in the other cells to hear them.

"Far across the salty depths, the merry evening sun~! The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky~!" They heard a few whispered outside in the halls and heard another voice join in.

"Farewell to the harbor, to my old hometown~! Lets all sing out with a DON, as the ship sets sail~!" The man's voice was broken, and sore, but it still sounded good. "_Come on, we still got some spirit left!"_

"Waves of gold and silver dissolve into salty spray, as we set sail to the ends of the sea~! Going to deliver Binks' Sake~! We are pirates sailing through the sea~! The waves are our pillow, the ship is our roost, flying the proud skull on our flags and our sails~!" After a moment, a few more weak voices were heard and they grew stronger as they sung. _"They're coming for us. I just know it. We need to stay strong until then." _Luffy's voice because more hoarse, and shattered as they went on. They probably didn't even know that it was his voice that started it all. Sabo grabbed the straw hat hanging around the younger's neck and plopped it on his head, covering his eyes. Luffy wrapped his palms around the rim of his straw hat and pulled it down.

"Now comes a storm through the far-off sky~! Now the waves are dancing, beat upon the drums~! If you lose your nerve this breath could be your last, but if you just hold on, the morning sun will rise~!"

A few more new voices joined, singing with pride. "Yohohoho~ Yohohoho~ Yohohoho~ Yohohoho~ Yohohoho~ Yohohoho~ Yohohoho~ Yohohoho~!"

Ace and Sabo looked down at Luffy and grinned when they saw Luffy smiling. Smiling a real smile, for the first time since they've been here. Ace and Sabo kept singing as Luffy's eyes blinked a few times before slowly shutting and his whole body went limp in Sabo's arms. Sabo placed Luffy's head on his lap and ran his hands through the child's hair. Ace glanced at Luffy and smiled, singing more softly, so Luffy could have a restful sleep. After a while of repeated singing, the two brothers also felt the sleep getting to them and they tilted sideways, leaning against each other's shoulders and closing their eyes, the sounded of the singing drowning in their ears.

* * *

_In a hopeless, tiny, sick smelling cell rose a tiny, broken voice. The voice they caused others to follow. A voice that brought hope back to them. The voices full of pride echoed through the halls, only to be heard by the slaves behind bars. They repeatedly sung for what seemed like forever. Just for that one, tiny moment, they found hope again. It was all started by the most broken of them all. Just a small boy. Just a small voice…_

* * *

Ace blinked the haziness out of his eyes and rubbed them a bit before sitting up more straight. He felt a weight sliding down his shoulder and he quickly caught it, sighing. It was just Sabo, dozing off into dream land. He gently set the other boy onto the ground and yawned, stretching out. He looked over towards Luffy, who was lying down on Sabo's lap. His eyes widened. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Quickly breaths emitted from the younger's mouth. Sweat. The liquid dripped from his forehead and neck, covering his body. His hands were planted against his chest as if he were struggling for air. Luffy's breath was caught in his throat and he started having a cough attack. Ace rushed to his side and wrapped his arms around the younger boy's chest, pulling him up into a sitting position. Luffy's cough attack subsided and he turned his head and grounded it to Ace's chest, his hands gripping Ace's shirt. His whole body was tense and Luffy's breath sounded pained.

"Hey, Luffy. You're going to be okay, got it?" He said in a soft voice. Luffy lost his grip on Ace's shirt and his arm felt to his side. His body shifted towards Ace and he panted immensely. Ace placed a hand on Luffy's chest. "Just breath in and out. Deep breaths, okay? In and out. That's it. Take it easy." Luffy's breath started to slow a bit and he turned his head to look up at Ace. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ace made a shushing sound with his mouth. "Save your energy. You're doing find." Luffy slightly nodded and tried breathing a bit deeper. Ace relaxed as the boy's breathing started to regulate.

"Ace..." Luffy whispered. "Hurts..."

"Where, Luffy?"

"I don't know... Everywhere." Luffy curled his legs up and turned his body towards Ace, his arms wrapped around himself.

"It's okay, Lu. You're gonna be okay." Ace pulled Luffy closer to him. "Miracle, right?"

"Yeah. Miracle." Luffy answered. "I don't wanna die in a place like this." Violent coughs racked his body and he pulled his hand over his mouth. Something dark seeped through the child's fingers. Ace froze when the smell of iron reached his nose. He grabbed Luffy hand away from his mouth and stared at it. Before, Luffy would just cough up a bit. Why was there more now? Blood dripped from Luffy's hand and silently hit the floor. The dark liquid rolled out from the child's mouth and down to his chin. His hand took a hold of Luffy's bloody one and squeezed it tight. He looked down at Luffy with his eyes shadowed by his bangs and his teeth clenched. He felt his eyes start to sting and his throat tighten.

"We're going to find a miracle. Just you wait."

* * *

**YO! I'm back with this new chapter! I long one this time, because the one before was so short. Hope you liked it!**

**I just had to add Binks' Sake. It was such a fitting song!**

**In Freedom, Luffy had a weaker immune system and I wanted to keep that thing with him. Living as a slave for a little over a year doesn't just fuck up your mind.**

**Those slave voices talking during the song, what do you think they mean? HMMM!? If you read Freedom, you probably already know XD.**

**I'm thinking about just PMing the people who review and have an account and answering the people who don't on the chapter. Make it a lot easier.**

**Reviews: **

Guest: It is here!

Guest: Here's more!

Noip13: Yeah, I just realised I don't have that much comic relief in this story. I might wanna tone it down XD

Weird-Sunny-Chan: Thank you! Here's the new chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm getting a sense of deja-vu right now… Oh yeah, just like in Freedom. The raid, a total bitch. I FINISHED THE ENTIRE THING 4 TIMES ONLY TO DELETE IT ALL BECAUSE THEY ALL SOUNDED STUPID! THE FREAKING WRITER'S BLOCK DID NOT HELP EITHER! RAAWWWWWWWWWR!**

**But, this time I added a twist to the chapter that's completely new! Bet none of you saw this one coming! … Unless you did… then good job… stophackingintomyfiles.**

* * *

Luffy shivered in Ace's arms as if he were a brittle leaf, desperately clinging onto its branch so it wouldn't get blown away. Luffy leaned closer towards Ace's chest, coughs racking his tiny frame. Sabo pressed his hands against the stone ground to try and make them cold enough before pressing them against Luffy's forehead. He frowned when his hands became warm again and pressed them against the ground.

"Too warm…" Luffy breathed. "Head hurts…" Ace and Sabo stiffened. Hopefully it wouldn't develop into another migraine. Luffy wouldn't be able to handle it in his state.

"What else, Lu?" Ace asked. "Is it just your head?"

"Um… Stomach… Throat… Everywhere…" Luffy replied, coughing a bit. It was as if he didn't even have to strength to cough anymore. There were metal footsteps clanking towards them and the guards appeared, throwing bread into the cells. One of the guards towards to them and threw the bread in.

"Hey, Saint Charloss said you're free to go!" The guard exclaimed. Ace and Sabo were just about to get their hopes up before the guards started laughing to each other. "What a joke! You actually believed that?" They started walking away, chuckling and throwing bread into the other cells. Ace snorted and flipped them off as they walked away, along with Sabo doing the same. Sabo then reach out and grabbed the bread on the ground, breaking it into threes. He handed one section to Ace.

"Better eat." He said. Ace took the piece on bread and stared at it. "What?" Sabo asked, tilting his head. Ace shook his head and took a small bite. Sabo sighed and crawled over to Luffy's side again, holding Luffy's section near the child's mouth. "Hey, Lu. We finally have some food."

Luffy weakly turned his head to looked at the piece of bread. He looked up at Sabo, who was trying his best to smile. He shook his head. "Come on, Lu. You need to eat something."

"Not hungry…" Luffy murmured.

"You have to eat, Lu. It's not a matter of if you're hungry or not." Sabo argued. "You need to eat! Even if it's just a bit!" Ace slowly lifted Luffy's back into a sitting position, letting Luffy slump against his chest.

"Just eat a bit, okay?" Ace urged. "For us?" Luffy eyed the piece of bread doubtfully before opening his mouth a bit and Sabo pressed a bit of the bread into his mouth, letting Luffy bite it off and chew it before swallowing. "See, it's not that hard. It taste good, right?" Luffy nodded slightly. Sabo's smile started to turn real and he gave Luffy a bit more. Luffy was finally eating. After a while, Luffy finished the piece of bread and the two older ones grinned.

"Are we really never getting out of here?" Luffy asked. Sabo grabbed his straw hat and plopped it down on Luffy's head.

"We're going to get out, okay?" Sabo promised. Luffy nodded and closed his eyes.

* * *

"No! Give him back! You can't throw him out!" Ace and Sabo shouted as the guards marched away with Luffy hanging in their grip. Luffy had just shown improvement with his condition the day before! He was slowly getting better! They couldn't throw him out! The Celestial Dragon grinned sadistically.

"I gave you a few days and you wasted it. Take this as a lesson." Saint Charloss said, walking away.

"But, this has happened before, yet you never threw him out!" Sabo challenged.

"Ah, well, he was still able to do work after a little convincing the last few times." Charloss replied.

"You bastard…" Ace growled. Saint Charloss ignored Ace's little comment and walked off. "Hey! Come back here! Give Luffy back!"

"LUFFY!"

* * *

The guard locked the seastone collar around Luffy's neck and tossed him on the streets. The citizens around him glanced at him with disgust before continuing on their way, staying about a 5 foot radius away from him.

"_Ew. He looks so gross."_

"_Who would want to keep something like that?"_

"_Get him away from me! I don't want to get infected!"_

Luffy coughed a bit and smiled bitterly. _I never thought this was going to be the way I die… _He huffed. _I wonder how Ace and Sabo are doing. I don't want them to be sad about me. _

"_We'll find a miracle, Lu."_

Luffy's throat tightened. _I guess miracles are fake too. Why does everything good in my life turn out to just be fake? Is everything supposed to be so messed up?_ Ace and Sabo smiling down at him popped into his mind. _I hope they get out of there somehow. They deserve it. _Thoughts and memories raced through his head. He would never see so many people again. He could never return his hat to Shanks. He would never get to taste Makino's hot chocolate again. He'd never have Mayor Woopslap nag at him. He would never get Gramps' Fist of Love again… _Why would I want his Fist of Love? It hurts!_ He inwardly chuckled. _Maybe it's a side effect of dying. Shanks once said something like… um… oh, when you're in a life-threatening situation you start missing the strangest things. I guess that's what he meant by "strange". _He opened his eyes slightly and say a hand reaching towards him. More specifically, his collar. _You probably shouldn't do that. We'll both blow up. _He closed his eyes and awaited the pain. _So, this is how it all ends..._

* * *

Ace and Sabo sat in opposite corners at the back of the cell, staring off into no where. Ace thought of Luffy's smile when they were singing and how is somehow light up the dark cell. He thought of how all the slaves were brought back to life and how it was all started by a single voice. He spotted a piece of charcoal on the ground and picked it up. He stared at the charcoal for a moment before turned his head to look at the wall. His eyes widened. Tally marks. Uneven lines of black covered the wall. They were almost unnoticeable because how dark it. Did Luffy make all those marks? He stared at where they ended. There was messy writing beside it that read '_Ace and Sabo_' His throat tightened and he took in a deep breath. Was this how Luffy would be remembered? A desperate child in a dark cell, counting his lonely days? Someone who would just fade wind?

"Going to deliver Binks' Sake…" Sabo whispered, just loud enough for Ace to hear. "Following the sea breeze, riding on the waves…"

"Far across the salty depths, the merry evening sun… The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky…" Ace added. "Hey, Sabo."

"Yeah?"

"Do you really think there's a god up there?"

Sabo chuckled miserably. "If there is, he can go to hell for all I care."

Ace scribbled random lines on the ground with the charcoal in his hand. "Stole my line."

* * *

"IT'S A RAID!"

Ace and Sabo lifted their heads from the sound of panicking guards and an explosion from the end of the corridor.

"Free all the slaves, yoi!" A voice rang across the hall and a battle cry came right after as the footsteps of a mini army trampled through the corridor. Sabo shot up and ran towards the bars of the cell, stumbling a bit. Ace followed shortly after and stared at the chaos being unfolded in front of their eyes. Ace felt the tears crawling in his eyes, threatening to spill at any moment.

"Why the fuck does it take this long for a miracle to happen!?" Ace shouted. "Luffy's already gone, you stupid god, or whatever the fuck you are!"

"Damn it all!" Sabo cursed falling onto his knees. A ring of keys was thrown into their cell and they stared at the person who did it. It was a man with pineapple shaped hair and lazy looking eyes.

"Get yourselves out of there, yoi." He said before joining the fight again. Ace stared at the keys for a second before Sabo grabbed them and started unlocking the shackles on his wrists.

"We can't waste this chance. Luffy wouldn't want us to just sit here and miss our chance to be free." His shackles clanked against the stone floor when they fell. He moved onto unlocking the shackles around he ankles and then handed the keys to Ace. Ace nodded and grabbed them, unlocking his shackles and then sticking his arm through the bars, unlocking the gate and pushing it opened.

"This is it." Ace said. Sabo nodded.

"Let's go!" Once they set foot out of the cell, everything just felt right for a moment. Was this freedom?

* * *

Luffy opened his eyes and squinted when he was greeted by blinding light. Was he dead? He heard that people see a white light after they die. Maybe that's what was happening. Then the light simply vanished into darkness and he could open his eyes a bit more. What was going to happen now? He tried to moved, but his body wouldn't move. Just then, he realized he was lying on something soft. His eyes widened. It was a bed. Why was he in a bed? He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps. What was going on? Was he alive after all? _Nononononono, why didn't I die when that guy touched my collar? Why am I still alive! I just wanna die already! _A hand reached over to him and he stiffened. The hands grabbed the rim of the blankets and pulled them up to his chin. The hand reached out and felt his forehead. The cold hand felt good against his forehead and he moved into the touch. The hand moved away and he felt more uncomfortable. A small source of light shone beside him. He heard a sigh and the light started moving around. _Who's there?_ He wondered.

"Don't try to move, okay? It'll only make things worse." A female voice spoke in a hush tone.

Luffy stiffened. _What's that supposed to mean?_ What did she mean by make things worse?

"You should try to get some more rest. You barely made it back to the ship alive."

_Ship?_ He was about to try and speak before a soft hand brushed over his lips.

"Don't speak. You're safe here, okay? Just sleep for now." Luffy bit the inside of his cheek. He cautiously closed his eyes, keeping all his senses up. He had no intention of sleeping right now.

* * *

Everything seemed like a blur. They were just following the crowd, squeezing through all the fight to try and reach the end of the corridor. A guard lunged for them, but they easily evaded and kicked him down, continuing towards their destination. Freedom was right there. Just a bit farther towards the light. As they reached the exit, the light engulfed their vision. Their feet hit the soft grassy ground that still had some dew sticking to the edge of the dull blades. Their eyes adjusted to the light and the first thing they saw was the sun, shining so bright and full of life. Then there was the sky. It was a brilliant solid blue with small clouds floating in the air. Around them was the town. One thing ran through their minds. This was the town. They threw slaves into the town. They threw Luffy there. Find Luffy. They didn't have time to admire their escape just yet. Waves of slaves blocked their views, but they pushed through the crowd and went a different direction that headed towards the town. Some of the slaves were shouting at them, telling them they were going the wrong way, but they didn't listen. They ran into the town eye darting everywhere, searching every inch of the area. The towns folk screamed at the sight of them and backed away, shouting insults. Ace had to avoid a purse being thrown at his face. Sabo bumped into one of the towns folk, who almost nailed him in the gut with a kick. They both didn't care about this abuse at the moment. All they could think of was Luffy. Did he have to deal with this right now? Was his condition getting worse? Was he even still alive? They ran around for ages, calling his name and dealing with the stupid nobles in town yelling insults at them and throwing items at them.

The nobles started clearing a path in the street, standing away. Ace and Sabo stood there confused before a small army of soldiers came marching down. They quickly darted down the street until they found an alley, watching the soldiers in the shadows as they passed by, shouting about rounding up all the escaped slaves. The nobles shouted about seeing them running around but -thankfully- didn't see them dart into the alleyway.

"We need to find Luffy." Sabo whispered.

"We've been around town twice, Sabo. He's not anywhere." Ace replied, negatively He still wanted to find Luffy, it's just that he was starting to lose hope. They both were. Sabo sighed. They heard a footstep behind them and stiffened. Before they could react, something hit them in the neck and they fell unconscious.

* * *

**YESH! I'M DONE! MWHAHAHAHA! SCREW YOU DEMON SIDE! I'M FREE! FREE!**

**Okay, I know it was short, but I blame my stupid writer's block. And the raid... ANOTHER CHANCE STARTED IT!**

**But seriously, I haven't had writer's block since Fire and Ice and that was just eww...**

**RESPONSES!**

**Guest: I'M BACK! WOOOOHOOOO!**

**Weird-Sunny-Chan: Here's a tissue and a cookie *hands you items* Yep, it is hard to find joy in a hell like that. They're out now, though! And don't worry, I have Sabo tease Ace a lot more XD Hope this chapter was okay. I'm glad you like my writing *looks away blushing* (Also, sunrise is awesome! I listened to it so much. I think the World Calling will grow on me as I keep listening :D)**

**Guest: MOAR!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh gosh. I'm back. I spend half the time researching the effects of child labor and abuse. I have to say, I won't be giving Luffy, Ace, and Sabo all of the damage, but they're not going to escape unscathed of some terrible effects, especially Luffy because he was a slave longer and his body is WAY less durable and more undeveloped. Seriously, Luffy compared to Ace and Sabo as kids was like not even fair.**

* * *

Luffy rubbed his eyes and sat up, immediately hunching over and hugging his stomach. He looked around. He turned his head to see a lady's face right in his. His eyes widened and he backed up in rapid speed until his back hit the wall. His breathing quickened. He didn't feel comfortable being in close contact with people other than Ace and Sabo. The lady had light brown hair down to her shoulders. She wore a white, sleeveless pencil dress and a purple skull tattoo on her bicep. She smiled at him happily, which creeped him out. "You're cute!" Luffy stiffened.

"I'm not your pet!" He growled, pulling his covers up so it cover himself up to his eyes. "Who are you? A slave trader?"

The lady blinked a few times before she started laughing, wiping away the dots of tears from her eyes. "You're too much!"

Luffy took that as an act of hostility and pointed an accusing finger, glaring. "I knew it! That laugh just screams evil!"

The lady's laughter calmed and she sighed. "I'm not a slave trader, kid. If I was, I probably would've just left you on the streets because no one would probably buy a sickly little kid. Anyway, I'm Chiasa."

Luffy coughed a bit. He felt the familiar feeling of his straw hat being shoved onto his head and his eyes widened. His hands wrapped around the rim of the straw hat and he pulled it down on his head. It felt a lot more new. He didn't feel any of the cuts and his fingers didn't feel coated in dust. He looked up at Chiasa who was smiling at him softly. "It was really damaged when I saw it. It had a bunch of cuts and was really dirty so I fixed it up. Is it something important to you?"

"Yeah…" Luffy mumbled, looking away.

Chiasa pulled Luffy into a tight hug. "Oh my gosh, you're just so adorable!" She fangirled. Luffy felt increasingly uncomfortable being glomped by someone he didn't even know. He started to feel sick and wanted to pushed the nurse away.

"Chiasa, get away from him. I swear, I leave for a few minutes and come back to see you squeezing the life out of my patient." An annoyed voice sighed. Chiasa let go of Luffy (to his relief) and rubbed the back of her head, embarrassed.

"Sorry, Akiko!" She stuck her tongue out. "I forgot."

"Whatever, just watch your actions." Akiko tucked a stray piece of her long orange hair behind her ear. She wore the same thing as Chiasa. She also had the same tattoo, but it was along her leg. Another man came walking in and Luffy cringed at the sight. He recognized the man, he was the one that picked him off the street. Now that he got a good look at the man, he could pay attention to his features. He his hair was blonde and made his head look like a pineapple. He just stared at the man's face and blinked. His nose was bloody, his head had a bump on it yet he kept a neutral face as if nothing happened. Luffy started to feel uneasy again. What was going on? Chiasa started laughing, pointing at Marco shakily.

"Wha-wha-wha-what happened to you!?" Chiasa laughed. Marco gritted his teeth and frowned.

"...Akiko beat me up…" He reluctantly admitted. Luffy's hands started sweating. Where these people like the Celestial Dragons? Why else would that guy be beaten up?

"Why?" Chiasa asked.

"Cause I knocked out these two kids." Marco held up the kids by the back collar of their shirts and Luffy's eyes widened. He didn't even notice them since he was focusing on how the guy looked. He felt his throat tighten and it was painful to swallow. Ace and Sabo… They had made it out! They were okay! The two nurses and Marco noticed Luffy staring at the two kids in Marco's hands. The more surprising thing was that they noticed his eyes were glistening with tears.

* * *

Ace brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes. What happened? He realized he was dangling off the ground and looked up to see that man who threw the keys into his and Sabo's cell. "What the hell? Put me down!" Ace kicked around, waving his fists in the air, accidentally hit Sabo, who blinked his eyes opens and groaned.

"Who hit me?" He muttered. Sabo turned to see Ace dangling from someone's hand, wearing an embarrassed face. Sabo looked up and stared. Marco stared down at him. "Who the hell are you!?" Sabo demanded. Ace growled.

"He kidnapped us and brought us to this place." Ace pointed at the guy. Marco grew a tick mark.

"_Hey, do you know them?"_ A nurse lady with brown hair asked in the background. Sabo and Ace turned towards where the whispering came from and stared, eyes wide.

"Luffy…?"

Luffy's face turned from an expression of shock to pure joy. "Ace! Sabo!" He tried to jump out of the bed but the brown haired lady grabbed him by the leg and he fell face first into his sheets. He pushed himself up and glared at the brown haired nurse. "What was that for?"

"Akiko said no leaving the bed, right?" She turned to an orange haired nurse -Akiko- who nodded.

"That's right, you're still sick." Luffy just pouted at the statement. Marco set the struggling kids down and they stood there before they were finally able to understand the situation. Luffy was then tackled by two bodies flying at high speed which crushed the air out of his lungs well they landed on him. Ace pulled Luffy up forcefully, putting him in a choke hole with one arms and the other arms was pushing down a fist on top of Luffy's head, grinning like a mad man. Sabo was sprawled out on the bed and his arms wrapped around Luffy's waist, happily sobbing and mumbling gibberish.

"Oi, get off me!" He shouted, trying to push himself away from Ace.

"We missed you so much and we- couldn' fin' ya and th'n we though'you'eredeadn'-" Luffy shoved a hand on Sabo's head to try and push him away, but to no avail.

"Don't ever scare us like that again, stupid little brother!"

"Who said I was your little brother?!"

"I did, and don't argue with your big brother!"

"Fuck off!"

"We'resogladyerokay!"

"I can't understand you when-" Luffy suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his stomach and flinched. Akiko pulled the two rejoicing kids off of her patient and held them up in front of her.

"Hey, you two." She started with a quiet tone. She eyes was shadowed and there was a very dark aura around her. Chiasa sighed and Marco stiffened. They knew that tone. The pity they felt for the two kids who just entered Akiko's wrathed. "Who told you that you could damage one of my patients like that before I said so?" Ace and Sabo gulped before that we're thrown at Marco, causing all three to topple onto the ground. Chiasa laughed a bit and Marco glared at her. Ace and Sabo glared at the lady with cold eyes. "You two can sit next to him, but don't hug him or anything, gentle gestures." Luffy sweatdropped.

"Gentle gestures my ass, insane woman." Ace mumbled, standing up and dusting himself off.

"Ace." Sabo warned. Ace grunted but didn't object. They both jumped onto the bed and sat next to him. Luffy felt a lot safer with them around him, even though they piss him off sometimes.

"Okay, first things first. I'm going to do a small checkup to see how your body is keeping up with your age." Akiko said, kneeling down so she was at the same height as Luffy. "If you feel uncomfortable just let me know, okay?" Luffy nodded a bit. "Okay, good. I want you to hold your arms out, okay?" Luffy hesitantly did so. The instant he felt Akiko's hand wrap around his arm, he took his arm away and started mumbling gibberish. "Do you want to try again, or do you want me to move onto the next test?" Akiko asked, kindly. She almost reminded Luffy of Makino. He shakily held his arm up again and Akiko gently took it in her hand. Luffy stiffened but did nothing. Ace and Sabo watched her movements like a bird watching its prey. One false move, one slip up what even hints at her trying something, no mercy for anyone in this room. Akiko frowned when she finished looking around his arm. "Chiasa, clipboard, please?" She said. Chiasa nodded, immediately grabbing a clipboard and pencil, handing it to Akiko. Akiko started jotting down some quick notes on the paper that the three couldn't read. She turned back to Luffy. "Can I lift your shirt?" Luffy started violently shaking his head. Lifting his shirt meant his mark would be exposed, along with all the other scars he was hiding. Akiko sighed. "Please? It's not gonna take long, okay? Just a minute." Luffy finally nodded a bit and Akiko lifted the shirt. Ace and Sabo stiffened. Of course they've seen Luffy's injuries before, they had to patch them up all the time. But, in broad daylight? That's as different. Luffy's sides were covered in whip slashes and blade cuts, accompanied with burn marks. Some were older than others. He also had a slash across his chest. A long one too. It hadn't been properly treated, by the looks of it. Akiko wrote down a few more notes and poked Luffy in the stomach with the end of her pencil. Luffy flinched but said nothing. "Does it hurt?" Luffy shook his head vigorously. Akiko gave him a hard look. Ace and Sabo scooted closer to Luffy, a protective gaze in their eyes. Luffy shifted under the hard look he was receiving and looked down. "Look kid, if you don't tell me anything I won't be able to find out what's wrong with your body, so you gotta work with me." Luffy bit the bottom of his lip and dip his head. "Good, let's try this again. Does this hurt?" She poked Luffy in the stomach again and Luffy nodded. "On a scale of one to ten, how much?" Luffy counted his fingers and held up six. Akiko smiled. "See, it wasn't that hard. I'm going to check your legs, okay?" Luffy nodded. Akiko quickly inspected his legs before she stood up. "Okay. So, according to what I have so far, you have major muscle atrophy. You've clearly not been given enough protein. How much did they feed you in the cell?"

"A piece of stale bread, sometimes, and a bowl of water." Sabo answered for Luffy, since he could tell the younger wasn't comfortable answering questions.

"I thought so." Akiko growled. "Okay, it looks like I was correct." She sighed. "Sorry to break it to you, but you're weak." She stated bluntly to Luffy. "Not just your muscle atrophy, but apparently, your immune system is too. The sickness that you had was food poisoning from stale and dirty bread." Sabo and Ace looked at her as if she had just grown three heads. Food poisoning? Luffy almost DIED because of FOOD POISONING?!

"I'm calling bullshit!" Ace exclaimed. "There is no way Luffy almost died because if some stupid food poisoning!"

"Well this 'stupid' food poisoning almost took your friends life, thank you." Akiko said. "Fever, stomach aches, headaches, all signs of food poisoning." She looked back at her clipboard. "Adding on, he's only had bread and water since he's been a slave. Nothing to build strength in his bones or muscles, and certainly not his immune system." Luffy stayed silent, taking it all in. He was still so weak. After enduring all the pain and suffering he was still too weak. "Marco, could you go check if Thatch is done with the broth? Also, say hi to Oyaji for me."

"Me too!" Chiasa cheered. "I wanna go see Oyaji!"

"Yeah yeah, just go." Akiko muttered. Marco huffed and walked out the door, Chiasa happily following. As soon as the door closed, she turned back to the trio with a serious face. "We need to talk serious for a minute." The three younger ones felt a bit uneasy under she gaze. "There are many different effects of child labor and I need to interrogate you to see if you have any of the effects. Can I start?" They nodded, Luffy was more hesitant. "Okay. Are you more sleepy than you usually should be?"

"Luffy sleeps more than usual, even before he got sick." Sabo answered. "Sleeps all the time." He nudged Ace a bit and Ace glared.

"I'm not starting that conversation with you again, mister messed-up-in-the-brain." Ace replied curtly.

"I thought it was normal to sleep that much." Luffy muttered. "Besides, Ace randomly falls asleep all the time. Narcolepsy, wasn't it?"

"I don't think Sabo has any sleeping problems." Ace remarked. "No fair."

Akiko sweatdropped. "I see... Well, next question. Sabo and Ace, was it? Have you two been getting sick often?"

"No…" Ace answered slowly. "I don't think so…"

"Hearing loss?"

"Luffy and Sabo." Ace spoke.

"I don't have hearing loss!" Sabo interjected.

"I call over to you only from 20 feet away and you have to have me repeat it two thousand times!"

"You only have to repeat it three times! I can hear fine!"

Luffy grew a tick mark and pushed Sabo and Ace away from each other. Akiko sighed in relief that the two boys stopped bickering. Luffy turned to Ace and glared, dark aura surrounding him.

"Who has hearing loss?" Luffy growled, creeping out Ace and Sabo completely. Akiko facepalmed.

"I'll test each of you later, just answer my questions truthfully." She mumbled. "Okay, I want to ask your ages."

"I think I'm nine…" Luffy muttered. "Or almost nine."

"Then that makes me and Ace about twelve." Sabo stated.

Luffy coughed a bit. "Old." He muttered. Ace shoved Luffy's head down with a tick mark. Akiko grabbed Ace by the wrist and stared him, making the three look much smaller in comparison.

"**I said gentle gestures.**" She reminded demonically. Ace cringed and nodded.

"So nine and twelve." She huffed. "I have to say, you look like a bunch of seven years olds right now, eight if you're pushing it."

"Why you-"

"Shut up."

Ace grumbled before pointing at him. "Look at him! He's like a freaking beansprout! He should be the only one that looks like a seven year old!" Luffy pouted and mumbled under his breath.

"Acey is a meany. I thought we were brothers…" He looked away from Ace with a disappointed expression. That hit Ace hard and he straightened up. Sabo started sniggering. "And I was just about to consider the new bond, too… Maybe I should just be brothers with Sabo then." Ace snatched Luffy and squeezed him tight.

"I'm sorry, okay! Forgive me!"

"Hey! Let me go, you fucking glomper!"

"No way! I missed you too much!"

"What about me! I missed him too!"

"Ack- I can't breath! Let go!"

Akiko sighed, this time not stopping them. Kids will be kids.

* * *

The day went by quickly. The meeting with Thatch was fairly… awkward. He was a cool guy, it was just… awkward. And a lot of anger...

Luffy wasn't allowed to leave bed so only Ace and Sabo could see the captain, Whitebeard. The man was huge. He was pretty scary at first sight, too (not that Ace would admit it because he wasn't afraid of anyone, damn it.) The news about them traveled quickly (thanks to Chiasa screaming about a _certain_ chibi like patient) and the two boys soon found themselves feeling claustrophobic. Very claustrophobic.

They also got to meet the other commanders. Thatch managed to convince the two to call Marco 'Flaming Blue Chicken' which caused everyone to keel over laughing and Marco ended up setting fire to Thatch's hair and chased him around the deck to possibly murder him in cold-blood.

Jozu that fairly gruff. He just grunted a "Hello" and just left it at that. Ace and Sabo just sweatdropped.

"Okay… What's your name?" … "Um…"

"He's Jozu, don't mind him."

Ace was pretty creeped out by Vista, along with Sabo feeling very uncomfortable. There was just something about him that… they didn't know how to explain it, he just looked creepy.

"Hello there, young ones!"

"Hi…"

Then there was Blamenco. He was… interesting to say the least, and that wasn't just because of his appearance.

Then Rakuyu came along. He looked pretty hardcore with the dreadlocks and the earrings and the mustache, and he pretty much looked like that typical image of a rummaging pirate. He was a bit less gruff than Jozu and a bit more welcoming.

Then came Namur. Sabo was very interested in Namur because he was a fishman. He looked pretty serious at first, but he wasn't as scary as his looks entailed. He was pretty opened with Sabo, chatting and answering questions. Everyone could practically see the light in the blonde's eyes when Namur said he was and actual fishman.

"Really!? I thought they were just mythical creatures from story books!"

"They're real, kid. I'm living proof."

"So awesome!"

Then Blenheim introduced himself. Ace thought his beard looked epic and Sabo just sighed.

"It's just a regular beard."

"Shut up, I think it's cool."

They didn't know what to think about Curiel. He was a cool guy. He was nice-ish, at least starting conversations with them and things like that.

"Do those cannon things on your back work?"

"Yeah, they do."

"Awesome."

And Kingdew was one of those commanders that looked like that "I give no shits" kind of guy with his serious looking face and how much he was talking didn't really fit the way his face looked.

Haruta was one of the cool and nice ones. Ace and Sabo felt really open with her, and it was hard to make them open, especially Ace. He talked a lot and managed to make Sabo and Ace chuckle a bit.

"I don't know how she does it."

"She's definitely magical now."

The two didn't know what to think about Atmos. He seemed like a really tough guy and pretty much just as gruff as Jozu. Those bull horns sticking out of his head didn't help either.

Then there was Fossa. He just looked like a guy that was easy to piss off.

Then came Izo… Yeah, that was a bit more awkward than Thatch.

"Are you a girl, or a boy…?"

"I'm a boy."

"I see…"

"What?"

"No, nothing… Just… um… admiring your clothing for a second…"

* * *

"Good night, you two." Akiko said. "Me and the other nurses are going to be sleeping in the back, so call us if you need something."

"Yeah, yeah, see ya old hag." Ace muttered. Akiko's fists clenched and she turned to the younger boys with a creepy smile and glowing light dots for eyes.

"Now, now kids. If you don't want to find your face switched with your ass, and your ass switched with your face, then I suggest treating your savior with the respect that she deserves." Her eyes shined extra bright after the statement.

"Hai..."

"I wanna hug Lu-chan before I go to bed!" Chiasa exclaimed, about to run towards Luffy before Akiko grabbed her by the ear and dragged her away.

"You can do whatever you have to do tomorrow, my dear apprentice." Akiko stated before disappearing to the back with a star struck, drooling Chiasa in her grip.

Ace snorted. "Weird people."

Sabo just shrugged and tucked Luffy. Luffy didn't protest, he just relaxed and closed his eyes. Sabo smiled fondly before crawling into his own bed with Ace. "Good night."

"G'night." Ace whispered and lied down.

"Night." Luffy mumbled drowsily. Sabo blew out the flame and lied down.

* * *

**Omake: **

***Meeting Thatch***

**Thatch: Holy ****shit! They look like twigs!**

**Ace: Shut up!**

**Thatch: *Turns to Akiko* What did they eat!?**

**Akiko: Bread and water.**

**Thatch: WHAT THE FUCK!? HOW ARE YOU THREE STILL ALIVE!?**

**Sabo, Ace, and Luffy: ...**

**Thatch: DAMN, THEY NEED, LIKE, A SHIT LOAD OF NUTRIENTS! **

**Akiko: I _told_ you to put a shit load of nutrients in it. **

**Thatch: I DIDN'T THINK IT WAS THAT BAD!**

**Sabo, Ace, and Luffy: ...**

**Thatch: YEAH, YOU THREE JUST EAT THAT AND I'LL GET BACK INTO THE KITCHEN! *runs off***

**Luffy: Who was he?**

**Akiko: *Sigh* He's Thatch. Don't mind him, he's special.**


	6. Chapter 6

"HAPPY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY, OUR FAVORITE RETARD!" The whole crew shouted in joy. Luffy blinked for a second, staring at the sight of all his brothers and sisters crowded into one spot in the galley.

"I'm not a retard…"

"AND NOBODY CARES!" They gave him a thumbs up. Luffy sweatdropped. Thatch stacked a huge hundred layered Strawberry Vanilla Twist cake onto the table in front of Luffy, almost weighting the table down.

"Just for you, our dear little brother!" Thatch grinned the biggest grin in existence. Luffy blinked. "And I didn't forget the meat!" Thatch uncovered a gigantic platter on another table in front of Luffy and it showed the finest cooked meat- presumably- in the world.

"Um…" Luffy started. All the pirates waited in anticipation, Pops looking very amused. "This is great and all but…"

"But…!?"

"It's my birthday?" All the pirates immediately face-planted into the wooden deck before jumping up, aggravated. Pops threw his head back and let out a howl of laughter at his son's antiques.

"OF COURSE IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY, YOU OAF!" Sabo and Ace smacked him on the head with haki.

"Stingy." Luffy muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

Sabo started waving his index finger at Luffy and scowled, "It's May Fifth, and since you were about eight when we met you and it's been nine years since then, you are- in fact - seventeen." Ace kept nodded vigorously.

"... When in the world did I tell you that May Fifth was my birthday?"

"You don't remember!?"

* * *

"_Your birthday is July Fifth, right?"_

"_No…"_

"_What!? We always thought it with July Fifth!"_

"_May Fifth, I think."_

"_Okay, thanks!" They run off to the galley and a collective "WHAT!?" was heard there. Luffy never understood why until three days later…_

_Which is right now._

* * *

"Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'!?" Luffy raised an eyebrow.

"Oh means oh, what else?" His brothers and sisters sighed and shook their heads in shame.

"Sigh, such a dense little brother."

Luffy's eyebrow twitched. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Thatch latched onto Luffy, sobbing his eyes out. "My poor, poor little brother has been left brain damaged!" Luffy shoved the man's face into the ground.

"Geez, over dramatic much?"

"Still a meany too…"

"Don't push it."

Marco sighed. "Alright, you two. Now, before we eat, we open gifts."

Jozu snorted. "You're enthusiastic."

"Says and gruff guy."

"Anyway, presents!" Haruta grinned, trying to lighten everything up.

"OOH, OOH! MINE FIRST!" Chiasa cheered waving her head around.

"Nope, mine first." Ace argued.

"Mine." Chiasa glared, pulling out a few scalpels.

"Mine." Ace glared back, setting his shoulders a flame. The two lock foreheads and you could practically see the sparks fly. The others sweatdropped.

"Oi, oi…"

Ace sighed, placing his hands on his hips, letting his flames extinguish. "This can only be decided in one way then."

Chiasa threw her scalpels back into her waist bag and shrugged, sighing as well. "You're right."

"Good old fashion rock, paper, scissors." They growled at the same time. Luffy facepalmed and just grabbed a red wrapped box from the table.

"Oh, it's Ace's." The rubber teen shrugged. Ace let out a cheer and sent Chiasa a smug look. The nurse started gnawing on a tissue, sobbing.

Ace grinned. "Open it already!" Luffy started picking at the tap on the wrapping paper, slowly peeling it away, not damaging the paper. He started working on picking the tape off the next edge before Ace sighed. "You can just tear it open, ya' know." Luffy stared at him before grabbing the section of wrapping paper he freed from the tape and ripped it away. He grinned and teared more of it away and pulling it off the box. He opened the top of the box and pulled out a scarf. All the others around him stared at the scarf in interest and confusion. It had a red base with white stripes and fringes on the end. It was extremely soft and cuddly too. Ace smirked proudly at his gift and held his head high. "So, what do you think?"

Luffy squished it in his hands for a moment before saying, "It's soft..." All his siblings sweatdropped except for Ace. Was that really all he could say? Ace nodded.

"Of course, I got the best kind. Costed me four thousand beli!" Ace replied.

"Where the hell did you get the money?" Marco asked. Ace stiffened and smiled nervously.

"Um... Places..." He muttered, looking to the left and sweating.

"I have to say, it's a nice scarf, but on May Fifth?" Akiko pointed out. Luffy was still squishing the scarf in his hands.

"Well, people get sick when they're cold, and Luffy gets sick a lot so he needs a scarf to stay warm." Ace reasoned. All the nurses whacked him over the head.

"That's not how it works, idiot!"

Luffy wrapped it around his neck and smiled. "I like it!"

Ace housed the bump on his head and huffed. "See? He likes it!"

Sabo sighed with a smile. "I swear, you two are so stupid." He laughed. Ace just pouted.

"Now, my turn!" Chiasa grin, handing a box to Luffy. "This is from all of the nurses!"

"And me!" Izo shouted. "I helped!"

"Yes, Izo helped make it." Akiko added. Luffy ripped the wrapping paper away from the flexible gift and uncovered a nice looking red vest with yellow buttons.

"A vest?"

"Yes, because your clothes are worn out from the wash and muddy and filthy so we made you a new one." Luffy looked down at his demented shirt and shrugged.

"Yes, I guess."

"You guess!?"

Luffy placed the vest on the table and took off his top, then slipping on the vest. Yep, way more comfortable. "A lot better than that shirt!" He grinned. Chiasa and a few other nurses squealed while Akiko just sighed.

"You look adorable!" Chiasa squeezed Luffy in a bone crushing hug. Luffy started gagging and Ace and Sabo pulled him away, hugging him close to them.

"Leave Lu alone!" They shouted in panic. Luffy started catching his breath in heaves.

Thatch's entire division just counted the humongous feast as their gift to the young pirate so they just shrugged and Thatch shoved a giant steak down Luffy's throat.

Marco handed Luffy a small, unwrapped, black velvet box which the boy snatched from the older's hand before Marco could open his mouth to say anything, almost trying to pick off the velvet.

"No Luffy, you do this." Marco took the box and opened it up by flipping open the cap. Luffy's mouth formed an 'o' and he grinned, taking back the box. It was a thin silver chain bracelet with a silver anchor charm. "The whole first division contributed into buying this thing. It's pure silver with a trace of gold. Costed around a million beli." Luffy took the bracelet out of the box carefully before trying to put it on his left wrist, which didn't go well since he could only use one hand to do it. Marco took the other end of the bracelet and clipped it to the end Luffy was holding and it hung loosely around Luffy's wrist.

"Thanks, Ma!" Luffy cheered. Marco's eyes softened and he shrugged.

"No problem, brat."

Sabo shoved a neatly wrapped gift box into Luffy's hands and grinned. "I have a feeling you're going to like it." Luffy raised an eyebrow in question, but tore opened the package to reveal an anchor necklace. It had a thin brown, rope-like string and a charm at the end. It was a small, bronze charm in the form of a circle with a carving of a cardinal perched on a branch inside.

"Ooh, bronze!" Luffy held the necklace up to the light before tying the loose string around his neck. "Thanks, Sabo! It's really cool!"

"Told you that you'd like it." Sabo gave him a thumbs up.

_More food related presents later…_

"Make a wish and blow out the candles!" Thatch grinned. Thousands of candles were stacked onto the cake, all set a flame. Luffy stared at the cake.

"Make a wish?" Luffy tilted his head to the side. "Um... How?"

"Just make one."

"Okay. I wish-"

"You can't say it out loud, idiot!" All the others shouted.

"Oh." Luffy sounded before thinking his wish for a few seconds and drew in a deep breath. He let out the breath and the candles started flickering out. No, they didn't just flicker out, they started flying off the cake. Actually, the whole cake was flying off the table.

"SH-" The cake exploded into a heaping glory of creme and icing, dumping all over everyone in the room. Some of it even got on Pops in the back. Luffy blinked at the sight of his brothers and sisters covered in mountains of cake remains.

"Oh, that was supposed to happen?" Luffy said. The entire fourth division was sobbing at the sight of their ruined hard work and Thatch smacked Luffy on the head.

"That was NOT suppose to happen!" He shouted in outrage. Ace popped out from the cake mess and licked some of the icing off his lips.

"Mm, tasty." He grinned. Sabo wiped a piece of cake off his cheek and placed it in his mouth, nodding.

"Very." He agreed. Luffy wiped some frosting off Ace's cheek and tasted.

"Yum! Not too sweet, not too bland." He grinned at a ghastly white Thatch. "Made it just the way I like it!" Thatch gawked at the three brothers and then to the rest of the crew when they started tasting the cake debris.

Pops threw his head back in a laugh. "My, my! Our youngest seems to have such big lungs!"

Thatch sighed in defeat and crossed his arms. "Normally I would rant about the huge waste of food, but I'll make an exception. But, just this once."

"Thanks you, Thatchy!" Ace smirked.

Ace picked up some cake and grinned deviously. "Marco~" He sang.

"What?"

"Think fast!" Ace flung the squishy cake ball at Marco's face, which landed spat in the center. Ace started rolling on the sticky floor, laughing his guts out by the phoenix's expression. Marco wiped the cake away and threw the cake back at Ace, which promptly missed since the teen ducked. The slug icing ball smacked Rakuyo square in the face and slowly dripped off.

Ace flinched. "Ooh, this isn't gonna end well." Rakuyo glared at the two before picking up a huge chunk of squashed cake and shot it towards Marco, who dodge and the cake ball hit Haruta. She glared at Marco and Rakuyo before packing together a cake ball.

"Oh, it is on." She growled. She started rapidly firing cake everywhere, leading everyone else to start pitching into the cake war, except for Luffy, who was just standing there, watching to whole scene unravel before his eyes.

"Shishishi..." Pops looked over to the younger teen in surprise. Luffy was covering his mouth with one hand, clutching his stomach with another. "Shishishishishi!" He started pointing and laughing louder, which caused everyone to paused everything they were doing. "Hahahahahahaha!" Luffy fell on his butt, laughing, kicking around. "Haha- this is too funny!" Everyone grinned at the display of happiness. Sabo scooped up a bit of cake and before the younger teen knew it, a flying ball of strawberry vanilla goodness whacked him in cheek. "That's it! Everyone dies!" He shouted before firing cake balls like a freaking machine gun at everyone. The other started fighting back and a few stray cake balls ended up smacking Pops and the strongest man in the world started to take part in a silly cake fight, promptly crushing everyone in the galley. Needless to say, best birthday ever.

* * *

"Are you kidding me." Marco stated, hands curled around the edges of the paper.

* * *

"Well, damn." Thatch muttered.

* * *

Jozu glared at the note left of his desk. "What the hell is this?"

* * *

Vista scratched the back of his head. "No way…"

* * *

Blamenco stared at the note in his hands, gawking.

* * *

Rakuyu's hands shook, close to tearing the note up.

* * *

Namur flipped the note over, looking for the "JUST KIDDING, DOOFUS!" that just wasn't there.

* * *

Blenheim stared at the note, "You can't be serious."

* * *

Curiel gritted his teeth and took a step towards the door.

* * *

Kingdew slammed the note back onto his desk, almost making a hand indent in the wood.

* * *

Haruta looked at the note sideways and upside down, trying to find a catch.

* * *

Atmos kicked open his door, walking into the halls.

* * *

Fossa's cigar dropped from his mouth.

* * *

Izo's eye widened and he swung on his kimono.

* * *

Ace and Sabo stared at the note in absolute horror.

_Dear Ace and Sabo,_

_Welp, I'm off-_

"No way…" Ace whispered. "It can't be true…"

Sabo stared at the note.

_It's been super fun! I'll miss you, but, you knew I would leave at some point…_

Sabo sighed, understanding Luffy's decision. They're little brother was growing up, no matter how much they didn't like it.

_I packed everything I need, so no worries! I'm gonna be Pirate King!_

Ace set the note on the desk.

_Meet you at the top!_

* * *

"POPS!" All the commanders rushed onto the deck, rampaging. "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON!?"

"I see you know that Luffy has set out on his own voyage." Whitebeard stated.

"YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS, DIDN'T YOU!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US!?" The commander were rioting. Jozu was half diamond, Thatch was punching the air, Vista was holding a sword up, Blamenco waved his gigantic hammer around, Rakuyu and Macey were growling, Namur looked even more pissed- if possible, Blenheim swung his sword around in the air, Curiel took his canons from his back and held them in the air, Kingdew pumped his fist into the air repeatedly, Haruta was shouting like a lunatic and her sword was half drawn, Atmos also had his swords drawn, Fossa was grinding his teeth down on his cigar while clutching his sword tightly, Izo waved his guns in the air, fingers on the trigger, and Ace's shoulders were a flame. The only people who held back were Sabo- who rubbed the back of his neck- and Marco- who facepalmed. Not because they didn't miss Luffy, it's because they knew better.

"POPS!" Chiasa's voice sounded throughout the deck and the girl was suddenly hugging Whitebeard's leg, sobbing. "Tell me it's not true!" She wailed. Akiko stood beside her sighing.

"You're not sixteen anymore, Chiasa. Stop glomping Pops' leg."

"You," Chiasa pointed at Akiko, wiping her tears away, "Just have no heart!" Akiko's eyebrow twitched.

"Do not worry my children." Whitebeard assured. "Your brother is more than capable of taking care of himself."

"BUT! But…" They all objected before their shoulders sagged.

* * *

Ace sighed. "I can't believe he just left without saying 'see ya.'"

Sabo stretched out his limbs casually. "It was his choice. No matter how much we don't like it, he thought he was doing the right thing. We need to respect that."

"But, Sabo~" Ace whined. "Luffy was just too perfect!" He started pinching the air and moving his hands around as if he were pinching cheeks. "He had those cute puffy cheeks and he's so innocent looking! He's like a stuffed toy!"

Sabo smirked. "Don't tell me you're suggesting something." He teased.

Ace froze before shoving his hand into Sabo's face. "Never again." He glared.

Sabo laughed and pushed Ace's hand away. "Come on, I don't do it that much!"

Ace raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

_Ace: *Hugs Luffy* _

_Sabo: Awww, so cute! *Smirks*_

_Ace: *Sighs and gives Luffy food.*_

_Sabo: Don't tell me you're suggesting something!_

_Ace: *Comforts Luffy from a nightmare*_

_Sabo: *Snickers*_

_Ace: *Ruffles Luffy's hair*_

_Sabo: Ador-_

_Ace: Don't even. *Glares*_

Sabo snickered. "Okay, I give." He waved it off. "But seriously, just leave Luffy be."

"So, our little Luffy has left on his own journey already." Another voice cut in. Sabo and Ace looked to see Teach walking down the halls in front of them.

"Yeah, it's a bummer." Ace sighed. Teach grinned.

"A shame. The kid was a real spark." The man commented. "I'll be on my way now. See ya around, Commander Ace." As the man left, they shivered. The more they thought about it, the more the man's presence weighted down on them like damp air.

_"What's wrong, Luffy?" Ace asked. His younger brother shifted uncomfortably, which got the two brothers worried. "Are you feeling sick?"_

_"I don't like him." Luffy muttered._

_"Teach?" Sabo raised an eyebrow. Sure, Luffy was cautious, but it couldn't be that bad. Luffy nodded._

_"Something about him didn't feel right." Luffy explained. He sounded genuinely scared. "It felt like the air because damper when he was close. I was afraid." _

_Sabo tunneled his cold hand under Luffy's bangs to feel his forehead. "Your forehead is a bit warm. Maybe it's because of something you ate?" Luffy smacked Sabo's hand, startling both brothers._

_"I'm telling you! I felt it! He's not a good man!" Luffy bursted out. "Be careful around him, okay?"_

_Ace sighed. Even if Luffy might've been delusional, the worry in the child's eyes told them everything. "Fine, we promise. Right, Sabo?"_

_"Right." Sabo nodded. Luffy nodded._

_"Thanks." He replied, a bit grim._

_"Now grin!"_

_"Ah! Stop tickling me!" _

"Keep your guard up, Sabo. The air is thicker than it was before." Ace warned. Sabo nodded. "You go ahead to the galley, I needa get something from our room."

"Okay." Ace sighed. "It used to be Luffy's room too..."

Sabo face palmed.

* * *

Sabo walked into the galley happily humming until realized the gloomy atmosphere in the galley and shut himself up. "... Who's funeral?" All the crew members turned to him with a ghostly expression which made Sabo sweatdrop.

"Luffy..." They all muttered, eyes watering. Sabo sighed, walking over to the counter and taking a seat next to Ace.

"Hey, Thatch! Could you give me somethin' to eat?" He waved at the cook. Thatch grabbed a plate of food off the counter and served it to the blonde. Sabo cringed. Thatch looked dead. His eyes had bags under them and his mouth slightly hung opened. Sabo nervously turned away towards Haruta, who was sitting next to him on the right. "So, Haruta-" He started before seeing the same dead expression on her face and turned towards Ace, patting the fire-user on the shoulder. "Hey..." Sabo spoke nervously. Ace turned away from playing with the food on his plate and towards Sabo. He didn't like dead, but he did look like he was about to cry like a baby. "Come on! You guys knew he was gonna leave at some point!" Sabo sighed.

"Sabo~! You have to understand!" Ace exclaimed. "With Luffy gone, it means no more sadist pranks, no more food fights, no more puppy eyes-"

"I thought you hated the puppy eyes..."

_Luffy reached his hand out to grab a piece of meat off of Ace's plate before Ace quickly grabbed his wrist and sent Luffy a half hearted glare._

"_No." His voice was firm. Luffy glared at Ace. _

"_I'm hungry." He complained. "Thatch said if I had anymore then I would eat the storage away."_

_Ae stuck his tongue out. "Sorry, but even puppy eyes won't work on me." _

"_Oh really?" Luffy muttered. "If I used puppy eye on you, you'd be all over them." Sabo sighed at this. Ace raised an eyebrow. _

"_Try me." Ace challenged. Luffy huffed and somehow made himself look smaller than he was already and look up at Ace with huge, shiny, watery eyes and a small pout. _

"_Please give me your meat?" He asked in an adorable chibi voice. Sabo stared at Luffy, completely blown by Luffy's facial expression. It was completely different from any expression he's ever done. Ace pursed his lips together and stared down at Luffy as if he was crashing down inside, trying to deny the fact that Luffy looked absolutely adorable. Ace let out an exaggerated sigh and pushed his plate towards Luffy, regretfully. Luffy smirked and started eating the meat happily. "Told you." He teased. Ace snorted. _

_Sabo started laughing before slapping Luffy on the back, causing the younger to almost choke on his food. "Nice, Luffy! You sure got him!"_

"_Sabo~" Ace whined. _

_Luffy rolled his eyes. "I hate using that look though. It makes me look pathetic."_

_Sabo pulled on Luffy's cheek. "I think it makes you look cute, right Ace?" He sent Ace a sly smile with made the older brother's cheeks heat up. _

_"Shut up!" Ace shouted. "I thought that conversation was over!" Luffy stopped trying to pry Sabo's hand away and stared at Ace curiously. _

_"What conversation?" He raised an eyebrow. Sabo let go and patted Luffy on the back. _

_"Nothing to worry about my dear little brother!" Sabo grinned. Ace grumbled and looked away, his cheeks red from whatever messed up things were going on in his other brother's mind. Luffy however just shrugged and ate his meat, contently._

"And NO MORE WARM CUDDLY PLUSH TO HUG WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO SLEEP AT NIGHT!" Sabo blinked himself out of his flashback and stared.

"And?"

"AND OUR CUTE BABY BROTHER IS OUT DRIFTING ON THE OCEAN _BY HIMSELF WITH NO ONE TO PROTECT HIM FROM OTHERS_! LUFFY'S _ADORABLE_, SABO!" Sabo stared a bit longer, letting the words sink into his mind. Luffy was growing up, which means their adorable little plushy was drifting in the ocean, secluded from all life, with only a barrel of food and water to keep him company. Not to mention all the perverts and pedophiles his brother could encounter on his journey across the seas. He adorable... Innocent... Little brother... Being surrounded by those... _Things_...

"WE MUST GO FIND HIM!" Sabo shouted with determination, holding up his fist.

Ace did the same with tears in the corners of his eyes. "YESH!" They could practically hear the wave crashing in behind them as they almost charged out of the galley. Marco grabbed them by the back for their shirts and looked at them, half lidded.

"Calm down, you two. Our youngest is going to be fine." He muttered.

"You don't understand, Marco!" The two whined. "Luffy's in danger!" Marco sighed.

_And I thought Sabo was the sensible one. Looks like he's also fallen victim to the 'Brother Complex'. _Marco mused. "Look-"

"And don't act like you're not worried too! You set a bar aflame when a bandit grabbed Luffy by the wrist!"

"It was called 'defending.'" Marco countered.

"Yeah, right!" Ace huffed.

"Look, as much as I want Luffy to be here right now, you two need to let the kid choose his own path." Marco let go of the two. "He had his mind set from the beginning. Remember when he challenged Pops?"

"_I'll join, but I'm gonna leave one day, ya hear, old man! You're the strongest on the seas, right!? You want to be Pirate King! No way in hell I'm gonna let that happen! I'M GONNA BE THE PIRATE KING!"_

"Yeah, but-!"

"No buts."

"Stingy."

"That's Luffy's insult." Marco sweatdropped.

* * *

Whitebeard watch his children go back to usual business on deck, except a lot more sluggish. Actually, a lot more sluggish. Yeah, that was right. The sighed. Oh how much the child had changed them.

* * *

Thatch stretched and walked into the kitchen to prepare dinner. "Hey, Luffy! Could you-"

"Commander… Luffy isn't here." One for his subordinates cut in, depressed. Thatch stared a bit before sighing.

"Right, um… Get the chicken out and boil it until it's tender, will you?"

"Sure thing." The man ran off to the fridge. Thatch scratched the back of his head, staring at the stove.

"_Teach me how to cook!" Luffy ordered. Thatch blinked. _

"_Is there any particular reason?" He asked. _

"_Just teach me!" Luffy glared. Thatch waved it off. _

"_Yeah, yeah. Fine, kid. I'll teach you." Thatch shrugged. Luffy's eyes lighten up and he grinned._

_Thatch walked into the kitchen, stretching out. "Better get cooking-" He paused and stared. There were plates filled with food. Steak in the middle with sauce and broccoli on the side. A toothpick stuck in the steak with a tag. _

'_Thank you. -Luffy' Thatch stepped between the hundreds of thousands of plates stacked on top of each other. When he got to the stove, he saw Luffy sitting there, leaning against the exterior of the stove, sleeping. Thatch's eyes softened. He picked Luffy up in his arms and carried him back to his room, to Ace and Sabo._

* * *

Marco sighed and leaned against the railing, looking out towards the sea. The waves beat against the hull of the ship in a syncopated rhythm. The sun burned in the sky in a blazing glory of reds and oranges. The sky was painted with warm colors and clouds.

"_Why're you out here?" Marco asked. Little Luffy was sitting on the railing, kicking his legs back and forth, watching the sunset. _

"_Because I want to be." Luffy replied. "I love the sunset. It's all warm and stuff."_

_Marco leaned against the railing. "Be careful, if you fall, I won't be able to jump in the water and get you- yoi."_

_Luffy shrugged. "You'd catch me before I fall in." Marco raised and eyebrow. _

"_How do you know?" He challenged. _

"_I just know." Luffy answered. "Like right now." He slipped off the railing and Marco's eyes widened. Before Luffy could fall any further, he grabbed the kid by the wrist, letting him dangle over the ocean. _

"_Are you insane!?" Marco growled. "What if I didn't catch you!?"_

"_But, you did, didn't you?" Luffy replied. _

_Marco glared. "I could just drop you to your death right now, you know."_

"_But you won't." Luffy stated. _

_Marco sighed and pulled him up. "I won't." Now Luffy's feet were steadied on the railing and he grinned at Marco before spinning around on his heels to face the setting sun. His hands were placed on his hips. _

"_I'm gonna leave someday, Marco." He declared. _

"_Oh?"_

"_Yep! I'm gonna get my own crew and sail the seas." Luffy added. He reached back and pulled his straw hat on to his head. "I have a promise to keep."_

"_I see." Marco grinned._

_Luffy drew in a deep breath and cupped his hands around his mouth. "I'm gonna be Pirate King!" He shouted, startling some seagulls in the sky. Marco chuckled a bit. Luffy's grin grew wider and he spun around again. The heel of his foot slipped from the edge of the railing and he felt backwards. He let out a yelp of surprise and Marco caught him by the ankle. His straw hat flew off his head and he extended his arms to catch it. _

"_I swear, how many times do I have to catch you?" Marco muttered. Luffy huffed. _

"_Not my fault this time." He pouted._

* * *

Sabo let go of his pen and stretched his limbs out in his chair and leaned back, letting his arms dangle as he stared up at the ceiling. _Already grown up, huh? Time really goes by quickly_.

_Sabo curled his fingers around the fabric of his pants as he sat on the bed. His two brothers were in front of him, Luffy standing and Ace sitting on the wooden floor.. "Since we're brothers, I thought I should tell you something. It's been weighing down on my conscience for a while."_

"_Sure, tell us anything." Luffy shrugged. _

_Sabo hesitated for a second before drawing in a deep breath. "I'm the son of a noble."_

_There was a silence. Ace and Luffy shot each other unreadable glances before Ace picked his nose and Luffy yawned. "Don't care."_

"_You bastards! I poured my heart and soul into that confession!" Sabo shouted. "Beside, I thought you'd be more… angry…"_

_Luffy waved it off. "Nah, I was a bit shocked for a moment but you're not the stereotypical noble. You're a lot for caring and smart." Ace nodded. _

"_Like serious, did you think that we would be mad because of those bastard Celestial Dragons?" He added. "You're not like them, you're our brother. Doesn't matter."_

_Sabo's eyes widened. "But-" _

Smack_._

_Luffy's hand was held high in the air and Sabo's cheek was red. Luffy placed his hands on his hips and smiled. "There, get that outta your system?" Sabo stared at Luffy, dumbstruck. "Okay, conversation over. Who's hungry?"_

"_Me! Let's get to the galley!" Ace jumped up and ran out the door. Sabo stared after him. Luffy grasped his wrist._

"_Come on, let's get out of this damp atmosphere." He stated and pulled the older up, letting go of his wrist and running out the door as well. Sabo sighed and shrugged, following. He shouldn't have even bothered._

* * *

Ace lied on the deck of the Moby Dick, staring up at the stars. He looked over to the crescent moon, shining bright in the sky.

"_Doesn't that one look like Sabo's hat?" Luffy pointed at a cluster of stars in the sky._

_Ace pointed at another cluster of stars. "That look looks like meat!"_

"_Cool!" Luffy exclaimed. He stared up at the moon. "Wanna know something Shanks told me?"_

"_Sure."_

"_He told me that if two people who hold each other dear are far apart and they look at the moon, they feel closer."_

* * *

Luffy stared up at the moon before sitting up and checking his map and his compass. "So west is that way, since that's with where the sun set. He turned his map in the correct way and scratched the back of his head. "So the closest place it Shells Town, I guess. Yeah, I'll go there." He stretched his arm out and reached into the barrel of apples, tossed one into his mouth and swallow. "But I'll need to get some meat first. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan, Luffy. Wait, but I don't have any money. I guess I could steal some, I am a pirate. But, that would be mean, and I'm talking to myself again." He sighed and flopped onto his back. "Screw it."

* * *

**What do I say to typos? Too tired, too lazy, gonna sleep now. Good night.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Before I start, there was a confusion last chapter between Chiasa and Akiko and that was my fault. I corrected it so they are in their correct roles in last chapter and this one. Thanks!**

* * *

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

Ace, Marco, and Namur were just walking down the halls until they heard Akiko shouted from the infirmary door and bursted into the room.

"What's going on?" Ace asked. Akiko was rummaging through through the cabinets.

"Insomnia pills, cough medicine, vaccines, syringes, needles…" Akiko muttered as she dug through the cabinets. "None of them have decreased in supply! Luffy didn't take any with him!" She punched the counter. Chiasa was running around, screaming her head off before collapsing onto her knees and crying a literal river onto the floor. Ace, Namur, and Marco froze.

"SH-"

* * *

"-IT!" Luffy dumped all the items out of his leather sack and dugged through them. "I knew I forgot something when I left! That's the most important thing I could have packed with me!" He started smashing his head against the side of the small wooden boat. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid Luffy!" He started sulking in the middle of the boat, curled up, his head buried between his chest and knees. "I can't believe it. What if I get sick in the middle of everything! Akiko always told me I got sick at the worst times." He sprawled out on his stomach and started kicking and banging his feet and fist again the deck of the boat like a child. "DAMN IT! THIS CAN'T GET ANY WORSE!" He was knocked to the side when his boat suddenly took a deep turn and he sat up, looking around at what kind of mess he got himself into. "WHAT THE HELL!?" He was then knocked to the side again by another sharp turn. "WHY DID I JUST HAVE TO JINX IT!?" He complained, sitting up again, staring miserably at the water. "SCREW YOU, WHIRLPOOL!" He shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the large whirlpool he just got himself caught in. "Now how am I supposed to get out! I can't swim!" He looked around the boat and his eyes landed on the two large barrels he had and grinned. "Ka-cha!" He crawled over to the barreled and pulled the lid off, dumping all the content out of it and jumping inside, sealing the lid shut. "Good job, Luffy! Finally thinking for once!" He congratulated himself. "I think I'm forgetting something, though…" He then pushed open the lid and saw all the stuff he had dumped on the boat get washed away by a waved, along with his bag and his eye bawled out before a huge wave lumed over him and he sealed the lid shut again. "GODDAMN IT, LUFFY! WHY CAN'T YOU GET _EVERYTHING_ RIGHT FOR ONCE!?" He scolded himself, kicking around in the barrel. "Well, let's look on the bright side! I'll be safe in this and hopefully not die!" The barrel flipped over and he sighed. "Yeah… hopefully _not die_…"

* * *

"Jeez, this barrel must be loaded." A large man grinned. His comrade cackled.

"Lady Alvida, we halled this huge barrel of beer out of the water!" The other man shouted.

"Hmm, open it up. Let's see what's inside." A disgusting raspy voice sounded. A rather round woman wielding a dark iron club with dull spikes.

"Right." The large man smirked and pulled his fist up. "I'll open it the old fashion way." He slammed his fist down and the wood splintered, flying everywhere.

"Idiot. Who opens a barrel of rum like that?" The other pirate shrugged, sighing.

"Coby!" The disgusting voice called. "Clean up this mess!"

A small child with a pink bowl haircut and round glasses stuttered before replying, "Yes, Lady Alvida!" Before picking up the trashes wood from the ground.

Another pirate, taller and skinnier looked into the barrel and raise an eyebrow. "What the hell? Lady Alvida, there's a child in this thing!"

"What?" Alvida walked over to the barrel and looked inside. Surely enough, a kid who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old was curled up in the barrel, sleeping away. He had unruly black hair. He wore a bright red vest with yellow buttons along with a red scarf with white stripes. A necklace with a bronze pendant hung from his neck, along with a silver bracelet around his wrist. A straw hat hung from his neck and he had a scar on his left cheek. His waist and wrists were bandaged up for some reason. He also wore simple light blue shorts all ruffled up at the ends and grass woven sandals. He pretty much looked like the most innocent little thing ever.

"He looks… kinda cute." One of the pirates muttered.

"Shut up." The other growled. "For all we know, he could be some bounty hunter in disguise!"

"I guess…" The pirate muttered. The child shifted and the pirates tensed. The boy yawned and rubbed his eyes before stretching.

"Oh gosh, daylight!" He jumped up before the barrel tipped over and he fell onto the deck. "Oof!" He crawled out of the barrel and sat on his butt, rubbing the back off his head. "Ow…" The pirates started dropping their guard. He really did seem harmless. The kid looked up at the pirates before tilting his head to the side. "Who the hell are you people?"

"We're the Alvida Pirates, kid." Alvida answered. "Who're you? A bounty hunter?"

"No way, I'm a pirate." The kid stood up and stretched out his limbs. "Name's Luffy. Nice to meet you."

"Luffy, huh?" Alvida swung her club over her shoulder. "Since we're both pirates, you know what that means, right? We're both enemies, and you're on my ship."

"Oh?" Luffy tilted his head to one side in a child like demeanor. "Pops welcomes a lot of pirates on the ship."

"Pops?" Alvida raised an eyebrow.

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, I think he's back in Paradise by now." He turned his head towards Coby, who shivered. "Hi!" He grinned.

"H-Hi…" Coby replied, stuttering.

"Alvida, why do you have a kid on your ship? He sure doesn't look like he fits the pirate life." Luffy yawned.

"Ah, well, I picked him off one of my boats. Kid was stupid enough to sneak on one of my dinghies and I told him that I would spare him if he served me." Alvida explained nonchalantly. Luffy's expression went dark, which scared a few people. Now he didn't look cute at all.

"Really." Luffy muttered. "Your disregard for human rights sickens me." He disappeared and the men around the barrel dropped to the ground.

Alvida's eyes widened. "What the-" Luffy appeared in front of a trembling pirates and grabbed him by the head.

"This is gonna hurt. A lot." The pirate tried to scream, but his mouth was muffled and he was thrown into another group of his crewmates and barreled them over, unconscious. The remaining three members dropped onto the ground, scared shitless.

"Who the hell are you, really?" Alvida glared, smashing her club into the deck. "You're not the average run off the mill pirate."

Luffy smirked. "I guess I'm not." Before he disappeared again and appeared in front of Alvida, his hand gripping the club. "Bad weapon. The spikes are all dull and the iron is rusty. Not a strong material at all." The iron club was crushed into pieces, only the handle remaining in Alvida's hand. "You need better to make it close to the Grand Line, let alone the New World." He then brought a hand up to his chin.

"Then again, Pops said I was still too weak and young to hold my own in the New World…"

"Oi, kid…" Alvida started, fear in her voice. "Who the heck is this 'Pops' person you're talking about?"

"Hm… I don't really wanna tell you. I'll give you a hint!" He brought a finger under his nose to look like a finger mustache and puffed his chest out. "Gurarararara! You're one hundred years too young to challenge me, brat!"

Coby was generally confused while Alvida stepped back. "No way…"

"Ooh, did you actually know who I'm talking about?" Luffy asked, cheerily. "I'm surprised since you're a pirate in the East Blue. Maybe it was the laugh…"

"But you're only but a mere child! Why would he take in a child-" Alvida stumbled over onto his butt. "Y-You're one of those rumored devil children, aren't you. Even _I_ read the news. How many are there?"

"Ah, ah. I can't tell you that." Luffy waved his finger at her, in a scolding manner. He stretched his arms back. "I can make you go flying." His arms started retracting. "Gomu Gomu no…"

"W-Wait!"

"Bazooka!" Luffy's hands connected with Alvida's stomach before sending her into the air. His arms went back to normal length and his dusted them off. "Now that she's gone…" His looked around the deck to see broken bodies piled on top of each other. "I made a mess, didn't I." He spoke to himself in a sheepish manner. He turned to Coby, who shrunk, terrified.

"What- What are you?" He asked.

"Rubber man." Luffy shrugged. "Hey, do you have any food?"

Coby stared at him as if he was debating if Luffy was serious or not before nodded slowly and leading him below deck and into the kitchen. His uncovered some food on the table. "They're leftovers, and a bit charred, but it's food." The food was all burnt and black and unrecognizable. Luffy stared at Coby for a moment to see if he was serious before sighing.

"I swear, your cook must be the worst in the world." Luffy replied, bluntly.

"Well, he's… he has a few screws loose." Coby replied, hesitantly. Luffy looked around before spotting a fridge and walking over to it.

"Anything in here?" He opened the fridge door and looked around. "Well, you have eggs…" He took out the box of eggs and placed it on the counter, next to the stove. "And green onions…" He threw those on the counter as well. He opened a cabinet and looked inside. "Where do you keep the spices?"

"The far right cabinet from the stove." Coby instructed.

"Thanks!" Luffy opened the cabinet and took out a salt and pepper shaker. He turned to Coby. "Do you have any rice?"

"No, I'm afraid not." Coby replied, shyly.

Luffy sighed. "Darn. I guess I'll just settle with eggs." He grabbed a bowl from the sink and cringed. "Do you people wash _any_ of your dishes?"

"Um… sometimes…"

"You gotta be kidding me." Luffy face palmed. "Okay, Coby. I'll just wash the dishes, make us some actual food, and get us outta here."

"Us?"

Luffy raised an eyebrow. "You don't wanna stay in this dump, do you?" Coby vigorously shook his head. "Okay, then it's us." Luffy grinned. Coby smiled in awe.

"Luffy-san…"

"Now, I'm gonna do the dishes." Luffy loosened his scarf.

Coby watched in wonder as Luffy washed all the dishes like a machine, each of them spotless and scrubbed all the rust off the pan and placing it on the stove. The stove was turned on and before Coby could blinked, Luffy placed scrambled eggs on the table, with two forks.

"Eat up." Luffy stretched out his arms before sitting down, eating with his fork. Coby nodded numbly before picking up his fork and eating.

"Wow, this is good, Luffy-san." Coby complimented.

"Meh, it's okay." Luffy shrugged. "So, Coby, what're you going to do after we get off this ship?"

"Well, I…" Coby thought for a moment. "I wanna become a marine!" He declared.

"Marine?" Luffy chewed on more eggs. "Well, I'm heading to Shells Town. There should be a marine base there."

"Sh-Shells Town?" Coby stuttered. "That's where they're keeping Roronoa Zoro!"

"Zoro?"

"They say he's a ruthless bounty hunter who goes around slicing pirates mercilessly for their bounties! He's a demon in human form!"

"And I think I just found my first mate!" Luffy exclaimed. Coby stared at him before spitting out the eggs in his mouth.

"E-Eh!?" The boy shouted. Luffy stared at the eggs spilled all over the table before his face twisted into one of a demon and his smiled madman's smile.

"Now, now Coby, let me tell you something. When you're around me, you never EVER waste food. Especially if I'm the one who cooked it." His eyes shined red and Coby cringed under his presence.

"Y-Yes sir..."

Luffy returned to normal and sighed. "It's okay, I guess." He dusted his shorts off before yawning. "Well, since we're done eating, better get to Shell's Town!"

"Wait, Luffy-san!" Coby called in distress. "Why do you want Zoro to join anyway?"

"Well, the future Pirate King needs the best on his crew, right?" Luffy reasoned.

Coby blinked once or twice before he gawked at Luffy, jaw hanging. "P-Pirate King?"

"Yep."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"But the Pirate King is the one who claims the treasure of wealth, fame, and power! The One Piece!"

"Yep!"

"B-But, you're only fifteen!"

"I'm seventeen, jerk!" Luffy huffed. "Besides, aren't you, like, thirteen?"

"That's besides the point!"

"I don't care! I'm gonna be Pirate King!"

"But, you'll have to go to the Grand Line and face these insane people and you'll die! It's impossible! Completely impossible! Utterly impossible-" Luffy whacked Coby over the head.

"Cut it out." He muttered.

"Sorry..."

Luffy shrugged. "If you want to be a pirate, you'll have to go the the Grandline at some point. I promised a man a long time ago that I would become Pirate King. If I die trying to accomplish that goal, at least I died trying." Luffy placed his straw hat on top of his head and walked out the door. "Hurry up, Coby! Let's get off this dump!"

Coby stared after him before nodding numbly and scurrying after him.

* * *

"So, Coby… Which way is west?" Luffy asked, turning the map around. Coby raised an eyebrow.

"You don't know how to navigate, Luffy-san?" Coby asked.

"I do, but I usually look at the sun for reference." He fell onto his back and stared up at the sky. "And since it's noon, I can't tell which way is west or east."

"Give me the map." Coby sighed. Luffy looked over to Coby and the boy shivered. "Um, please hand me the map, Luffy-san." Luffy looked at him funny.

"You talk weird." He handed the map to Coby and the boy adjusted his glasses.

"Okay, we need to go…"

* * *

Luffy and Coby walked down the streets of Shells Town and Luffy stretched his arms out. "Well, better find Zoro." He looked around to see the villagers staring at them as if they had three heads and scream, backing away rapidly.

"I think Zoro's name is taboo here…" Coby whispered. Luffy shrugged.

"Well, let's get to the marine base." He kept walking.

"I'm really nervous, Luffy-san." Coby muttered. "I heard that the marine who runs the base is Captain Morgan and-" The villagers were now about a 10 feet radius away from the two, eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Luffy observed the reactions of the villagers. "They seem pretty scared of both. Probably did something really bad."

"I can understand why they're scared of Zoro, but Captain Morgan?" Coby wondered. "Seems really farfetched to me."

Luffy sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Maybe he's a bad guy."

Coby immediately dispelled the idea and started rambling before Luffy got tired of it and stated that they were at the marine base.

"I made it..." Coby whispered, as if he were in a dream.

"Yep, now I'm going check on this Zoro character." Luffy was already walking along the stone wall looking out into the dusty courtyard. Coby obviously started freaking out.

"Luffy, get down from there!" He shouted. Luffy turned to look at him and Coby shivered again. "I mean, please get down from the wall, Luffy-san!"

Luffy tilted his head to the side. "What's up with you? You're acting like I'm some super scary guy!"

"That's because you are!" Coby argued. Luffy shrugged before looking out into the yard again.

"Ooh! I think that's him! I'm gonna go say hi!" He was about to jump off the wall before Coby climbed up at lightning speed and pulled him down by the edge for his vest. He fell onto his butt on the edge of the stone wall and pouted. "That was mean, Coby."

"You can't just go skipping into a marine base courtyard!" Coby retorted. "Are you insane!?"

"Yep." Luffy replied, nonchalantly. "Marco calls me insane all the time."

Coby gawked at him for a moment before a gruff voice sounded throughout the yard.

"Hey, you two." They both looked towards the figure tied to a cross in the middle of the courtyard. Coby yelped.

"That black bandana... And the green haramaki... That's the real Roronoa Zoro!" He exclaimed, terrified. Luffy, however, grinned.

"Cool!"

"No, it's not!"

"You people are an eyesore." Zoro glared. "Get lost."

Coby squeaked. "He spoke!" He then turned to Luffy. "Forget it, Luffy! There's no way you can get a guy like him to join! It's suicidal!"

"Nah, I could take him." Luffy brushed it off. Zoro's interest seemed to peek at this statement.

A ladder suddenly leaned against the wall and a small girl carrying a package in her hand appeared, gesturing for them to be quiet. She swung a rope down the other side of the wall and swung down, running towards Zoro. Coby started going hysterical, yelling at Luffy to do something.

"Hi, Zoro! I made you some rice balls since you're probably hungry!" She grinned, unwrapping the cloth to reveal two lovely looking rice balls.

"Look kid, I'm not hungry! Get out of here!" Zoro growled.

"But, I made them with all my heart! It's my first time making them too!" She tried again. Luffy's heart started to soften.

"Don't make me kick your ass, little girl!" Zoro raised his voice, sounding desperate.

"Now, now! No one likes a bully!" An overly smug and disgusting voice sounded from the gates. Luffy stiffened. He swore his guy was related to Saint Charloss. That voice was all the proof he needed.

An onion headed idiot walked in looking all high and mighty with his lame purple suit and two other marine officers following him.

Zoro snorted. "Ain't is the idiot captain's son, hiding behind his daddy's wealth." He mocked.

The onion headed idiot glared. "A man in your position should guard his tongue, or he may lose it." The man walked over to the little girl and picked a rice ball out of her cloth. "Ooh, a little rice ball!"

"Hey, those aren't for you!" The girl shouted.

The idiot took a bite out of the rice ball before spitting it out in utter disgust. "Ugh! Gross! It's packed with sugar! You're supposed to use salt, stupid little girl!"

"I-I thought it would taste better sweet-"

"Gimme that!" The bastard had the nerve to snatch the other rice ball out of the girl's hand and stomp all over then.

"No! Stop!" She cried, trying to save her work. Luffy felt the disgust he had for this man start boiling over and he clenched his fists. He didn't even notice when the jerk started intimidating the girl before telling his marine guard to throw her out.

"Luffy! Catch her!" Coby shouted. Luffy snapped out of his trance and stretched his arms out and jumping off the wall to save her from hitting the ground.

"Thanks, mister!"

"Luffy."

"I'm Rika!"

Luffy placed the girl on the ground and turned to Coby. "Take care of her." He stated before standing up and placing his hat on his head and loose in his scarf.

The jerk started laughing and Zoro sent him a heated glared.

"Hey, you! Onion headed asshole!" Luffy shouted. The man turned around to look at Luffy.

"It's Helmeppo, you insolent fool!" The bastard shouted in outrage. One of Luffy's eyes were shadowed by his hat and his other eye looked like one of a demon away he walked toward the center of the yard.

"Do I look like I fucking care about your stupid ass name?" Luffy growled. "That little girl worked hard on those rice balls, and you just wasted food in front of a starving man." His right fist was balled up enough for his nails to cut his palm. "Do you has no honor as a person?"

"Hmph! How dare you talked to me that way! I'm Captain Morgan's son, I'll have you know!" Helmeppo huffed.

"I can talk to you however the hell I want!" Luffy spat before appearing right in front of Helmeppo, delivering a hard punch to the face. The onion head flew back into the wall, causing the entire thing to break.

"Helmeppo!" The two marines shouted in horror before digging their fallen comrade out of the rubble, scurrying to the base to get him medical attention.

"Bastard." Luffy scowled. Zoro just stared at him in shock and partially awe. His hat slipped off his head and he grinned at Zoro, causing the man to have an inner debate whether if this kid was cute as heck or scary as f- "Yo! You're Zoro, right?"

"Yes, I am. What do you want?" Zoro growled.

"To make it short, after that, Helmeppo's gonna definitely try to execute you and me so if you wanna live, better join my pirate crew!" Luffy stated. Zoro stared.

"I heard you use swords, right? Yeah, I'll get them for you if you join."

Stares.

"So, your life and swords are in the balance."

Zoro gaped at Luffy for a moment before the words got to his head. "YOU BLACKMAILER! YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE, DIDN'T YOU!?"

Luffy smirked, enjoying this all too much. "Now, I can't tell you that." He whistled, innocently.

"JERK!" Zoro growled, giving Luffy one of his famous demon glare. Luffy stared him in the eye before grinning.

"You look like Jozu when he's angry." He stated. Zoro raised an eyebrow. No one's ever seen his glare and not run away in fear. Seriously, did this kid was odd.

"Who the heck is Jozu?"

"My brother."

"You have a demonic brother." Zoro commented. Luffy sighed.

"You have no idea." He turned around and started walking towards the marine base. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some marines to piss off and swords to find." He disappeared. Zoro stared for a moment.

"What the hell…"

Luffy reappeared in front of Zoro and picked up the muddy rice ball, rolling it back up. "Can't let food go to waste." He was about to drop it on his mouth before Zoro objected.

"Hey!"

Luffy looked over to Zoro before looking back at the rice ball. "Ah! I forgot! You must be hungry! Sorry!" He dipped his head in apology before shoving the muddy rice ball into his mouth. "Okay, now I'm gonna piss off some marines." He disappeared once again. Zoro gagged on the food before swallowing it, panting.

"What's happening to my life." He muttered.

* * *

"Now, where are all of the marines?" Luffy looked around. "Wow, no one's guarding the front door. Smooth move, Morgan." He looked up. "It feels like they're all on the roof." He went through the front door and started up some stairs. "Better get Zoro's swords first." He tripped on one of the stairs and fell forward. He brought a hand up to his chin. "Then again, I have no idea where they are, so maybe I should head for the roof first." He jumped up. "Okay, roof!" He started running up the stairs at lightning speed. "Ooh! There's the door!" He kicked the door down to see all the marines trying to haul up a huge statue of a huge man with a metal jaw and an axe for a hand. The exact man was standing there, yelling about his greatness. That Hippo or what's his face guy was also there, holding a swollen cheek. All the marines turned to Luffy and stared.

Luffy stared back before looking to the statue. "What a stupid statue." He muttered. The axe handed man started tensed in anger before speaking.

"You insolent- I am Captain Axe Hand Morgan, you fool!" The man shouted.

Luffy picked his ear. "Huh, I don't give a crap." He looked at the statue for a bit. "Gomu Gomu no…" He stretched out his arm and swung it into the statue. "Pistol!" The statue was smashed in half, the upper part falling to the ground, crashing into pieces.

"Theres, much cleaner." Luffy stated as all of the marines were in a state of shock. He appeared in front of Helmeppo and grabbed him by the wrist. "Take me to Zoro's swords!" He disappeared.

"After him! I want his heart on a platter!" Morgan screamed in outrage.

* * *

"Luffy's so reckless!" Coby sighed, untying Zoro's ropes.

"That guy's gonna kill you, you know." Zoro warned.

"Rika told me everything." Coby said. "They tied you up for no good reason."

"Then, what was that guy doing?" Zoro asked. "Trying to save me, or something?"

Coby smiled nervously and sweatdropped. "Well, he has a demonic pent up rage against anyone who waists food, for some reason."

"Huh."

"Yeah…"

"Okay, where's the swords?" Luffy asked. Helmeppo was just screaming his head off as he was being used as a shield from bullets. "Hey, idiot! Where are the sword!?"

"IN MY ROOM, JUST PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Helmeppo screamed.

"Where's your room!?"

"TO THE LEFT!" Helmeppo replied, terrified.

"Thanks!" He threw Helmeppo away, over his shoulder and kicked open the door. He stared at before cringing at the decor. "Seriously, is this person a girl or a boy?" His eyes landed on the three swords sitting against a wall. "Bingo!" He grabbed the swords and looked out the window. "Coby!"

* * *

Coby screamed. His shoulder was bleeding, guns were being pointed at him, and he didn't like it.

"On my command, fire!" Morgan shouted. The marines readied their guns. "Three! Two! One!"

The a window in the base was smash opened and Luffy landed in between the marine's bullets and his friends. The bullets hit and Luffy's skin stretched back, not absorbing any damage and flung them back forward, shooting right past the marines, who fell in shock and horror.

"He's inhuman!"

"What the hell happened?"

Luffy threw Zoro's swords onto the ground, earning a scowled from the green haired man. "Coby, get Zoro free." No answered. "Coby?" His turned around to see Coby lying on the ground, unconscious. Luffy grabbed the boy by the shoulder and started shaking him like mad. "Coby! No! What did they do to you!?" Luffy was freaking out, shaking the boy so much that it would be a surprise if he ever woke up. Luffy set the boy down and glared at the marines. "You shitheads! What did you do to Coby!?"

"I think he fainted because you freaked him out..."

"You'll pay!" Luffy stretched arms out. "Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!" The hands sent many marines flying into the air, leave Morgan, Helmeppo (who had rushed out the base door), and a few other marines in it's wake. "That's what you get, marine assholes!"

"... Can you untie me now?" Zoro asked.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Luffy grabbed one of Zoro's meitos and unsheathed it. "Can I use it?"

"Sure…"

"IF GUNS WON'T WORK, USE SWORDS!" Morgan's voice rang with rage. The marines let out a half hearted battle cry and ran at the two, ready to cut them in half.

"Crap! Free yourself!" He shoved the hilt of the sword into Zoro's mouth and charged towards the marines.

"What the f- You can't just do that!" Zoro shouted, through the sword in his mouth.

"Sorry!" Was all Luffy shouted back before punching a marine in the face.

Zoro let out an exasperated sigh before cutting the ropes off himself and grabbing his other two swords, strapping them into his haramaki. He unsheathed his other two swords and rushed into battle, blocking a sword flying towards Luffy. "I feel like I made a mistake." Zoro grumbled, standing back to back with Luffy.

"You have no idea." Luffy smirked. "Duck." He stretched out his leg. "Gomu Gomu no…" Zoro crouched down and a leg swung over his head. "Whip!" The marines were knocked to the side.

"What the hell are you?" Zoro muttered.

"Rubber man." Luffy replied. "I ate a paramecia type devil fruit."

"Devil fruit…!?"

The marines started panicking, telling their captain that they couldn't defeat them. Morgan's eyes were shadowed and growled, "To all of the marines who just admitted weakness, shoot yourselves in the head." His eyes were full of insanity. "I have no use for weaklings." The marines all looked at each other before reluctantly pointing their rifles at their heads.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with these marines?" Luffy just facepalmed, which amused the green haired swordsman to a certain degree. Luffy appeared in front of Morgan, jumping up so they were face to face.

"I'm your opponent!" His knuckle implanted itself into Morgan's cheek. "Try killing me!" Morgan was sent crashing into a wall, the rubble hurrying him. Luffy landed on the ground and let out a sigh. The marines lowered their guns, staring in surprise. Morgan slowly rises from the stones and threw off his coat.

"You have neither rank, nor status!" He growled. "You're nothing to me! I AM CAPTAIN AXE HAND MORGAN!"

"And I'm Luffy." Luffy replied. "Nice to meet you." Morgan swung his axe forward, but Luffy easily dodged, kicking Morgan in the stomach, sending his to the ground. When Morgan was down, he proceeded to step on the man's face, grinding his heel into his jaw. Zoro almost cringed at the demonic aura coming from him and he was considered a demon, himself. "You." He stomped on Morgan's jaw, causing it to scratch a bit. "And your stupid navy..." He stomped on his jaw again, creating a dent. "Are ruining Coby's dream!"

"Stop it!" Helmeppo screamed, causing Luffy to look over, glaring. He was pointing a gun at Coby, who had just sat up from being unconscious. "I'll shoot him if you don't stop!" Luffy took his foot off on Morgan's face.

"Don't stop, Luffy!" Coby suddenly shouted. "Don't let me pull you down! Let him kill me!" Luffy stared for a bit before grinning.

"You're a good person, Coby." He replied before stretching his arm out. "Gomu Gomu no..." Morgan started rising from the ground and held his axe high in the air. Zoro readied his katanas.

"Luffy, watch out!" Coby panicked.

"Pistol!" Luffy shot his fist forward and it connected with Helmeppo's face, sending him back. At the same time, Morgan started to fall and Zoro landed on the ground. "Nice, Zoro."

"Just doing my job... _Captain._" Zoro replied, sheathing his swords. Luffy turned to the rest of the marines, who stuttered.

"Hey! Who's the new commander of the base?" Luffy asked. The marines flinched.

_S-Scary…_

A marine stepped forward. "I'm Commander Ripper. What is it that you need?"

"Can you get me a den den mushi?"

Ripper raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"Can't tell, just get me one." Luffy stuck his tongue out, childishly. Ripper turned to a fellow marine.

"Fetch this man a den den mushi." Ripper commanded. The marine straighten and saluted before fetching a den den mushi at lightning speed, scared shitless of the straw hat wearing boy.

"Thanks!" Luffy snatched the den den mushi. "What's Garp's number?"

"V-Vice Admiral Garp?" One of the marines forced out and the group started murmuring amongst themselves.

"Why would you like to contact Vice Admiral Garp?" Ripper asked.

"Don't need to tell you, I'm a pirate." Luffy smirked. Ripper sighed in defeat before he connected the den den mushi to Marine Headquarters.

"Hello?"

"Yo, can I talk to Vice Admiral Garp?"

The den den mushi raised an eyebrow at Luffy's way of speech.

"Um, sure. He's not at Marine HQ at the moment, but I can connect you to him."

"Sure, thanks!"

There was a static sound for a moment before there was a "ka-cha".

"Hello?"

"Hey, old man." Luffy greeted. The marines' eyes widened and they did a spit take. He was so dead.

There was a silence before there was insane laughter. "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You have spunk, kid! Reminds me of some kids I knew."

"Thanks, old man!" Luffy grinned. "Anyway, Captain Morgan here in Shells Town was being an ass, so I beat him up. Wanna pick him up?"

"You don't sound like a marine, kid."

"Nope, not even close!" Luffy's grin grew. "Pirate."

"Pirate, huh?" Garp stated. "I should've guessed."

"Oh, and there's a kid here who wants to be a marine. He's a pink haired geek." Luffy added. Coby gawked and Zoro started laughing heartily.

"I see, well I'm in the East Blue right now, so might as well get them." The den den mushi looked fairly passive.

Coby stared in horror. "I'm going to be trained by _thee_ Vice Admiral Garp-san…"

"Thanks, gramps! See ya around!" Luffy cheered.

"Gramps? You're one rude brat, aren't you."

"But you are!" Luffy exclaimed. "And I was raised by pirates, what do you expect? A noble man tone?"

"What do you mean, I'm your gramps? That's not something you joke about, brat." The face of the sail became serious.

Luffy stuck out his tongue. "See ya!" He hung up. The marines stared.

"Luffy, is it?" Ripper started. "I heard Garp lost his grandsons a long time ago. It's really not a light topic." Luffy seemed unfazed before giggling.

"I know." He replied. "Anyway, I'm gonna leave before the old man comes around with his 'Fist of Love'." He grabbed Zoro by the wrist and dragged him away. "See ya!" He disappeared. Coby stood there for a moment before running out the gate.

* * *

Luffy let go of Zoro and the man rested his hands on his knees, panting.

"You and your speed." Zoro glared. Luffy shrugged.

"Get used to it." He jumped onto the boat. Zoro caught his breath and jumped on the rowboat as well.

"Is this all you got?" Zoro asked.

"For now." Luffy said. "I think we'll get another boat soon though."

"Hopefully." Zoro muttered. "This thing doesn't look like it can hold it's own weight." He looked back at the town. "Do you think Coby will be okay?"

Luffy grinned. "He'll be fine. The old man is gonna train him after all."

"I guess."

"Luffy-san!" A voice shouted. They looked to see Coby saluting to them. "Thank you very much, Captain Luffy! I'll never forget it!"

Zoro smirked. "A marine saluting a pirate? Now I've seen it all."

Luffy grinned. "Good luck, Coby!"

"SALUTE!" The marines appeared behind Coby and saluted the two. Luffy started rowing away, waving.

"We'll meet again, Coby!" Luffy called.

"You have some good friends, sailor." Ripper commented. Coby became teary eyed and nodded.

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

"Seriously, are you sure you're not fifteen?"

"Shut up! My birthday was only a few days ago, ya' know!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Really, people? 100 reviews? That's amazing! We haven't even hit the 10 chapter mark yet! Thank you, and love you all!**

* * *

"I NEED MY MEDS!" Luffy whined, kicking around in the boat. "Zoro~ Do you see the island?"

Zoro let out an exasperated sigh. "No, I do not."

Luffy flipped onto his back and held the map up to the sun. "It should show up soon, so keep an eye out for it."

"Will do, captain." Zoro shrugged, looking out to the sea. "Remind me why you need medication again?"

"Because I have a disorder called Hypogammaglobulin-"

"Oh yeah, that thing." Zoro muttered.

"Yep." Luffy sighed. "It really sucks."

"I'll take your word for that." Zoro replied, looking out to the sea. His stomach growled. "Man, I'm hungry."

"Heh, sorry." Luffy apologized. "I forgot to bring some food with us. I'll be sure to pack a lot when we reach Orange Town."

Zoro nodded before speaking. "Aren't you hungry too?" Luffy hesitated a bit.

"Well, yeah." He replied. "But I can stand it, not that bad once you get used to it."

"Used to it?" Zoro repeated, confused. "What's that supposed to mean? You were starved as a kid?"

Luffy immediately shot that assumption down. "No, I wasn't starved, I just... Have a really high metabolism? I don't know." Zoro looked at his weirdly before looking out to sea again.

"Hey, is that the island?" Zoro pointed out into the distance. Luffy jumped up and stared out into the distance. He grinned in excitement.

"Good spot, Zoro! Let's go!" He grabbed the oars on the boat and stuck them in the water, starting to row. Zoro looked horrified as the paddling became more panicked and the boat zoomed across the water. The island was rapidly approaching and Zoro started losing his mind.

"STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP-" The small boat crashed into the dock of the island and Zoro was sent flying into the air, landing face first into the streets of town.

"Wow! Zoro flew really high up!" Luffy jumped out of the boat. Zoro sat up and pointed a finger at Luffy.

"I will avenge myself someday." Zoro growled.

"Silly Zoro, avenge is doing things for the greater good!" Luffy replied. He held out a hand.

"Hm?" Zoro look at the hand before Luffy sighed, in an exasperated manner.

"Are you going to get up yourself or what?" Zoro stared for a few seconds before grabbing Luffy's hand and the younger pulled him up. Luffy smiled before spinning on his heels and looking around. "This place looks abandoned! No one's out!"

Zoro let out a grunt before saying,"Maybe they all left."

Luffy started walking around in an odd, childish manner. "Maybe they're all dead and the corpses have already decomposed!" Zoro cringed in disgust.

"What the f-"

"Then they must have been dead for a really long time, right Zoro?" Luffy turned his head around to Zoro with a huge grin. Now Zoro was creeped out, and that was no easy task to accomplish. "Unless there are a bunch of decomposers around, but then the streets would be crowded by bugs and stuff..." Luffy thought for a moment. "I guess Zoro's theory makes more sense." He shrugged. "As long as we find no bones." Luffy started walking down the street again. Zoro just stared after him. The boy turned around with a pout on his face. "Are you just gonna stand there or what? I swear, you're slower than Ace."

"Ace?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"My other big brother!" Luffy cheered. "He's the one who gave me my scarf!" He tilted his head to snuggle into the soft yarn before pointing to the bracket around his wrist. "And this was from Marco!" He then flicked the bird pendant around his neck. "And this thing is from Sabo!"

Zoro sighed, "Great, next thing you're gonna tell me is that you have a thousand brothers."

Luffy scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, not by blood..."

Zoro's jaw hung for a moment. "I'm... I'm not even gonna question that." He walked past Luffy and the younger smiled brightly, following with a hum. While they walked, ignoring Luffy's soft humming, Zoro thought about his experience so far on their voyage.

If there was such thing as this "normal" in the world, Luffy was definitely not the definition.

The guy was pretty much shrouded in mystery. Zoro knew nothing of his origins, his hobbies, favorites, hell, Zoro didn't even know the boy's age besides the fact that he wasn't fifteen. He did say that his birthday was a few days ago. Maybe he was sixteen. A wave of fear crashed over Zoro. Scarily enough, what if he was fourteen? He looked down at Luffy, who was still happily humming random tunes. Luffy did look a lot younger than Zoro. It was a bit creepy knowing that your captain could, in fact, only be fourteen. Only one way to secure his worries.

"Hey, Luffy."

"Hm?" Luffy looked up at him.

"How old are you?"

"What's with the sudden question?"

"Just answer."

"I'm seventeen."

Zoro stared. "Oh thank goodness!" He let out a relieved shout. Luffy raised an eyebrow before starting to hum again.

"And the shots hurt a lot, it goes away really soon~"

Zoro scrolled his eyes towards Luffy in interest.

"And no trip to Akiko until the next day~ Get over it quickly so you can go play~"

"What're you singing about?"

"Oh!" Luffy beamed up at Zoro. "It's a song Chiasa and I made up so Akiko could give me all the shot and medicines I needed for the day!"

"Let me guess, more siblings."

"Yep!" Luffy started looking around. "Medicine! Medicine! Luffy needs his medicine!" He started cheering. Zoro facepalmed.

"What are you? A six year old girl?"

Luffy stuck his tongue out. "Zoro's just a stick in the mud!" He started hopping down the stone street in search for a pharmacy.

"Hey! Wait-" Zoro started before he saw an orange haired girl run around the corner and smash into Luffy. Three goons stopped before the two in the ground, wielding knifes and swords. They looked like run off the mill pirates or bandits. The orange haired girl sat up, rubbing her head.

"Ow..." She looked down at Luffy before grabbing him and standing up, standing him in front of her. "Boss! You're here! Please save me!" She then shoved poor Luffy into the man and ran off. Luffy's eyes averted from the girl who disappeared to the goons.

"Damn girl got away." One of the men cursed. Another snorted.

"Whatever, we got her boss right here!" They raised their blades.

"So you think you can go around stealing from others, do you?" The third goon knock Luffy's hat off his head and it hung from his neck. Luffy glared his demonic glare and Zoro actually felt bad for the three goons. They had no idea what kind of storm was coming.

Luffy grabbed the man by the head and dug his fingers into his skull. The man let out a cry of pain before he was used as a hammer, whacking the other two into the ground, unconscious. He was then thrown into the pile.

"Hey, bastard." Luffy growled, stomping on the already unconscious man's head. "Don't fucking touch my hat." He placed his hat back on his head before dusting his hands off. "Jackass." He kicked the pile out of his way. Turning to Zoro, he smiled. "Now let's go find my medicine, Zoro!"

"Sometimes I can't tell if you're serious or not." Zoro grumbled before catching up to the jumpy captain.

"Wait!" The two turned around before looking up to see the orange haired girl sitting on the railing a balcony, looking down at them. "You, in the straw hat!" She called. "You seem really strong! Wanna team up?"

"Who're you?" Luffy replied.

"The Name's Nami! I'm a stealthy thief who steals from pirates."

Luffy shrugged. "Not interested." He turned back around. "Come on, Zoro!" He cheered, singing his little tune about shots. "And the shots-"

"H-Hey! Wait a second!" Nami jumped down from the railing and landed gracefully onto the ground, catching up to the two. "How about we-"

Zoro and Luffy's stomachs growled. Zoro blushed from embarrassment and Luffy just collapsed onto the ground. "So hungry." Luffy muttered. Nami smiled.

"I can treat you two to some food!" She offered. Luffy jumped up, his fatigue forgotten.

"Cool!"

* * *

Luffy grabbed a sandwich from the platter and started munching on it. "So, do you live here?" He asked.

"Don't talk with food in your food, it's disgusting." Zoro muttered.

"F'nally shomone-" Luffy gulped down his food. "Finally someone who didn't call me cute!"

Zoro stared, along with Nami. "What?"

"Back at home, whenever I talked with my mouth full everyone thought it looked cute because my cheeks were puffed out! I mean, even Ace of all people admitted it! You know how annoying that is?"

Zoro waited for a moment. "Huh."

Nami blinked. "Anyway, to answer your question, no this house belongs to someone else. But, all the villagers left because Buggy the Clown made the town his turf."

Luffy grinned. "So Zoro's theory was correct!"

"Of course it was, idiot!" Zoro shouted. "Did you actually think your theory was remotely plausible!?"

Nami raised an eyebrow in question. "What?"

Zoro sighed. "When we docked here and found the town deserted, Luffy came up with this messed up theory that all the villagers were dead and their bodies had already been decomposed or something like that."

"Hey! It's a possible theory!" Luffy defended. "If this town had enough bugs and other decomposes those bodies would be gone real fast!"

"How come I feel that you're the only one who could come up with such a thing!?"

"Science!"

"Screw that!"

Nami was a bit disturbed for a moment before she regained her composer. "Well, um, I came here to get a map of the Grand Line." She held it in her fist. "There will be even more pirates to steal from and I'll get more money. Wanna help?"

"So you're just a thief." Luffy concluded. Nami took offense to that comment and immediately shot the conclusion down.

"I'm not your average, petty little house thief! I steal from pirates, and pirates only!"

Zoro shrugged. "Thief's a thief." Nami let out an exasperate sigh.

"My goal is to gather a hundred million beli. Then I'm gonna buy a certain village." She stated.

Luffy took another munch of his second sandwich. "A village?"

"Yep."

Zoro yawned. "I'm more interested in this Buggy person." He took a bit out of his sandwich and swallowed. "Is he really that scary?"

Nami nodded grimly. "He's a pirate known for his love of cannons and his short temper. I heard that he blew up a town because a kid made fun of his nose." Luffy raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, narcissistic much?" He commented. He looked from the map in Nami's hand to her face a few times. "Are you good at navigation by any chance?"

"Yep! Best damn navigator in the whole East Blue!" Nami exclaimed with much pride, smiling confidently.

"Great! You can join me and Zoro on our voyage to the Grand Line!" Luffy grinned.

"Really?" Nami asked, excited.

"Yeah! We're looking for members to join our pirate crew anyway!" Luffy replied.

"No way!" Nami slammed her hands into the table in outrage. Luffy and Zoro were a bit startled by the sudden change in atmosphere. Nami let out a huff. "Sorry, I didn't know you two were pirates. Forget everything that I said earlier, I'll never join." She pointed at the straw hat resting on Luffy's head. "I will take that hat and whatever treasure you're hiding in it though."

"Sure." Luffy shrugged. Nami stared.

"What?"

"I said sure." Luffy glared. "If you want me to spread your intestines from her to Buggy's hide out."

Nami flinches at the sudden hostility. Luffy stood up.

"Only a select few are allowed to touch my hat. It means too much to me for some person I don't know shots about to lay a finger on it." He stretched his limbs out and started walking away. "Thanks for the sandwiches!" He grinned. Nami was now utterly confused. "Let's go Zoro!" He started chanting, "Medicine! Medicine! Luffy needs his medicine!" Like a child. Zoro got up from his chair and huffed.

"Whatever you say." He followed the younger. Something in Nami clicked.

"Wait a second!" She called. "I'll join under one condition!" That caught Luffy's attention and he turned around.

"I'm listening." He said.

"I'll join if you two will come with me to pay a visit to Buggy the Clown." Nami smirked. Luffy shrugged.

"Sure." Luffy shrugged. "Hopefully it's not something involved with a rope," Nami stiffened. "And, possibly taking me to Buggy as a hostage?" Nami smiled nervously.

"What do you mean?" Nami asked.

Luffy smirked. "Rope. Behind. Back. Hostage. Buggy. Get it?" He suddenly appeared behind Nami and grabbed a rope that she was gripping behind her back. In a second, Nami found her hands tied together behind her back. "Izo taught me how to tie a bow." Luffy grinned. Nami looked back at her hands and started struggling to get them out of the ropes. She turned to face Luffy, glaring.

"What are you? How did you do that?" Nami growled. Luffy his hands up jokingly.

"Hey, living with pirates for eight years has its perks." Luffy shrugged. Nami glared.

"So, you were with them since seven?" She growled. Luffy waited for a second.

"I'M NOT FIFTEEN, YA' JERK!" He bursted out. He then turned away, pouting. "Everyone's just a big meany! I'm seventeen, ya' hear? My birthday was only a few days ago, so shut up."

Nami blinked. "But, you're too… small." That was clearly the wrong thing to say and Luffy pointed at Nami, offended greatly.

"I'M DRINKING AS MUCH MILK AS POSSIBLE, OKAY!?" He exclaimed. He then turned to Zoro. "You people are just too… tall!" He muttered.

"You can start by stop being so childish." Zoro suggested. Luffy tilted his head to the side before grinned.

"So, you want serious Luffy." He asked. Zoro snorted.

"If that's possible."

"Sure." Luffy answered, completely changing his tone. He pulled on one end of the rope bow and Nami's hands were free. He threw the rope onto the ground. "You know were Buggy is right?" Nami nodded. "Take me there, and I'll help you, if you join my crew." Zoro and Nami were a bit creeped out by the tone of Luffy's voice. They weren't even sure it was a tone. It was more like… monotone.

"If you help me get my money." Nami wagered. Luffy nodded.

"Come on." He turned around, his eyes shadowed by his straw hat. His monotone voice had cracked a bit. Nami and Zoro looked at each other before following.

* * *

"This is the place?" Luffy turned to Nami. Nami nodded. Luffy turned to the bar to see pirates looking over the roof. "You said he gets mad when someone insults his nose?"

"Y-Yeah."

Zoro sighed. "I think I know what's gonna happened.

"HEY! BIG FAT UGLY NOSE! COME DOWN SO I CAN KICK YOUR SORRY BUTT!" Luffy shouted, loud enough for the heaven to hear.

"FIRE THE CANNON!" A shrill cry rang and a cannon aimed at the three. A black cannon ball shot out with a clown emblem imprinted on it. Nami screamed and ducked while Zoro moved away, yelling at Luffy to dodge. Luffy, however, just took in a lot of air and blew up his form into a balloon. The cannon hit him square in the stomach, but bounced right back, hitting the roof. Many pirates were blasted off, raining down and hitting the ground with a splat.

"Warn us before hand, will you? You made me panic for no reason." Zoro grumbled.

"Don't care." Luffy muttered. A clown like figure appeared from the rubble and growled.

"How dare you..." Buggy glared.

"One hundred ninety eight."

* * *

Ace sighed. He sat on the trio's shared bed and spun around his hat in his hand. He stared blankly at the picture frame on the desk with Sabo, Luffy, him messing around in the galley. Sabo walked into the room through the door. He looked from Ace to the picture frame.

"Still upset?" Sabo asked. "I'm worried too."

"Yeah." Ace placed his hat back into his head. "What if they try to change him…"

"_I swear, you can't be serious anymore, can you." Ace muttered. Luffy tilted his head to the side. Sabo sighed. _

"_You want serious Luffy?" He asked. Ace shrugged._

"_Possibly." _

"Sure_."_

After sunset...

"_Okay, Luffy!" Ace pleaded. "You can stop being serious now!"_

"_Yeah, don't listen to Ace." Sabo added. "He's an idiot! You don't have to be serious anymore!" Luffy's eyes were shadowed by his straw hat as he stared at the ground._

"_Really?" Luffy whispered, voice cracking. _

"_Yes!" _

_They saw Luffy's shoulders start to shake and they saw tears start hitting the wooden floor. Luffy started wiping them away, only to start hiccuping and crying even more. "I don't like serious Luffy. It's like I'm back-" He sniffed. "-at that place again." Ace and Sabo immediately felt guilty. They should have noticed. Serious Luffy sounded exactly like the dead Luffy they first met in the cells. "I don't wanna be serious anymore."_

"What if they make him go serious again?" Ace muttered.

Sabo sighed. "Then his crew with have to find out the hard way. We can't to anything here."

"It's all up to Luffy."

* * *

Omake:

Ace: *takes out Luffy's old, beat up shirt from the closet* This brings back memories.

Sabo: Yeah. *sweatdrops* It _is_ actually really disgusting now that I look at it.

Ace: *nods* I remember when I was dark blue. Now it's… *cricket chirps*

Sabo: What color is this thing?

Ace: No idea. Like… Light gray… With lots of mud… and food stains… Remember that one guy with the poison shit and made Luffy go blind?

Sabo: Yeah.

Ace: Looks like some of that stained his shirt… and all this other stuff… *looks closely* No idea what that is… Oh geez, is that a blood stain?

Sabo: He really didn't have any mercy on the marines did he…

Ace: I think I'm legitimately scared for the marines' in the East Blue's well being.

Sabo: As long as they don't graze the hat.

*Long pause*

Both: Well shit.

* * *

**Hello, my friends! Here's the next chapter for BWOF! Not **_**that**_ **proud of this one, but it was meh. **

**This is my little gift for my friend's birthday, so Happy Birthday, you son of a gun. I busted my ass and went passed my bedtime to finish this, so be very happy. Sleepy Riena is Cranky Riena.**

**Seriously though, he's a good friend to have around. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!**

**Review Responses:**

**So tired, so cranky. One word. Thankyou. (That'ssupposedtobetwowordsbutspacingissotiring!)**

**Anyway, I'm gonna go sleep now. Bye!**


	9. Chapter 9

"One hundred ninety eight?"

"Yeah!" Luffy exclaimed in a whiney voice. "I mean, 'HOW DARE YOU' is so generic and boring! Try something like…" He held his hand out at if he were crushing something with a demonic face. "**I'll incinerate every organ in your body**." He when grinned. "Like that!" There was a pause before Luffy perked up and covered his mouth. "I mean…" He muffled out before coughing into his fist. He turned to Buggy with a half lidded look. "Be more creative, stupid ass."

Zoro and Nami sweatdropped. _That personality change though..._

"You…" Buggy snorted. "What business do you have with me, Straw hat?" He growled. Luffy kept his same half lidded look and stretched out his limbs.

"Kick your ass." Luffy answered. "Then I get a new crewmate." Buggy's head tilted to the right, mechanically before he started laughing.

"Kick _my_ ass!? Do you know who you're talking to!?" Buggy exclaimed, mockingly. A puff of smoke was left where Luffy used to be and Buggy felt a wave of air travel towards him before a solid fist connected with his face. He was sent downwards, crashing into the ground, causing a small earthquake. Buggy started coughing before slowly sitting up.

"Captain Buggy!" A swordsman on a unicycle and a weird animal tamer guy on a lion shouted.

"I couldn't come apart…" Buggy muttered. Luffy's shook out his hand. A dark armour like shell covered his fist. "Th-That's-" The dark armour disappeared and Luffy glared at his hand. "How do you possess that!? No one in the East Blue has that!" Buggy shouted.

Zoro snapped out of his shock and turned to Nami. "Have any idea what he's rambling about?" Nami shook her head numbly.

A giant lion appeared behind Luffy, snarling. A weird looking man rode on top. Zoro pulled out a sword while Nami panicked.

"Luffy, watch out!" She shouted. Zoro was about to rush forward to help before the giant claws for the lion stopped. The paw was caught by Luffy and he turned to the lion with the half lidded look.

"Get out of there." He muttered and the lion was sent flying back through a building, along with the tamer. Zoro snorted.

"Taking all the fun." He scoffed. Nami sighed.

"You people are gonna give me a heart attack." She grumbled. Buggy gritted his teeth before rising.

"I'll kill you, you flashy bastard!" He shouted.

"Allow me, captain!" The man on a unicycle drew a sword from his side and rushed towards Luffy. "I'll cut him into mincemeat!" Before the man could advance any further, Buggy held out his arm to block him.

"No, I'll take care of him." Buggy growled. "He's damaged my pride too much. I will kill him flashily!" His entire body separated into small chunks and floated around. "BARA BARA FESTIVAL!"

Luffy scoffed before he caught Buggy's feet walking around and smirked deviously.

_Oh no…_ Zoro and Nami mentally facepalmed.

Luffy grabbed a foot and Buggy's face started twisting. "So your feet can't leave the ground, huh?" Luffy started crushing the foot in his palm. He face went demonic as he heard Buggy's screams of pain and rage, crushing the foot even more. "Keep screaming." He cackled.

Nami cringed. "Is he... Always like this?"

Zoro slowly shook his head. He winced when Luffy grabbed the fist that was headed towards him, promptly snapping at the fingers back and chucking the knife at Buggy's floating head. Zoro was almost thankful that Buggy's face wasn't destined for doom by the knife.

"I wonder if you're one of the types that people hate before they even get to know you." Luffy spat. Buggy started recovering from the pain and growled.

"Flashy bastard..." He glared at Luffy intensely. Luffy didn't even falter the slightest.

"He can take glares really well..." Zoro muttered.

A knife in a gloved hand floated in the air behind Luffy's head and swung forward.

"Too fast!" Zoro gasped drawing his sword. "Dodge it!"

Luffy turned around and ducked the knife. "Shit, I was careless!" His eyes widened. He hat, his treasure was sliced through by the knife and thrown onto the ground. "Shanks... Hat..." He choked out.

"Oh!" Is this hat precious to you?" Buggy asked, reassembling next to the straw hat. "This stupid thing?" He smirked at the fact that Luffy was traumatized. "What if I do this?" He squashed the hat under his shoe. "That's for almost breaking my foot." He smirked. Luffy's body shook as he saw his treasure get grinded into the stone ground mercilessly. Buggy raised his foot and brought it down again. Before buggy could stomp on the hat again, Luffy moved at lightning speeds and shelter the hat with his arms, letting Buggy smash his foot into Luffy's side. Luffy gritted his teeth.

"You..." Luffy growled, curling up in anger. "You..."

"Huh?" Buggy asked in a taunting voice. "Me? Me what?"

"You fucking ugly, fat red nosed pig..." Luffy growled. "You fucking sliced my hat... And you stomped on it..." He grabbed Buggy's ankle and dug his fingernails into Buggy's flesh. Buggy was flipped onto the ground and Luffy stood over him, only his silhouette under the sun and his glowing red eyes could be seen. He clutched his hat tightly in his right hand. "Pity, I can't control my Haki well enough to make you suffer more." He cracked his knuckles. "But Haki or not, I'll still send you flying." Luffy kicked Buggy high into the air and stretched his arms back. "Gomu Gomu no..." Buggy started screaming for Luffy to stop, but Luffy swung his arms forward. "BAZOOKA!" The clown pirate knew no more.

"No! Captain Buggy!" The swordsman on a unicycle exclaimed before charging at Luffy, who payed no mind. "You'll pay!"

Luffy sighed. "So generic."

Zoro pulled out all three of his swords. "Oni Giri!" He finished, delivering three slashes to the other swordsman's chest. The swordsman collapsed onto the ground, bleeding heavily. Luffy turned away and started walking away. He stopped next to Nami.

"You're here for treasure, right?" He muttered. Nami froze before nodding numbly. "Go get it." He stated plainly before walking away again.

"Oi, Luffy-"

"Shut the fuck up and get to the fucking boat!" Luffy cut Zoro off. He pulled the hat down on his head so much that it started to tear more.

Zoro tried again. "You'll break it even more if-"

"I told you to shut up!" Luffy shouted, voice cracking. "Hurry up or I'm leaving without you!" He started running down to the dock. Nami stood there for a moment before running off to find her treasure and Zoro just huffed before running after Luffy.

* * *

Luffy sat in the boat, flipping over his hat over and over again.

_"I don't deserve it!"_

Luffy shook his head. How could he let this happen? He promise Shanks that he would take care of it. He already broke that promise once when he was working under that gluttonous bastard! And now, his idiotic carelessness has lead to him breaking that promise again! He smashed the hat back onto his head and pulled it down onto his head again.

"You'll break it that way." Luffy looked up to see Zoro wave at him. "Yo."

Luffy glared at him before turning away. Zoro sighed and jumped onto the boat, sitting next to Luffy. "That means a lot to you, huh?"

"Why do you care?" Luffy muttered. Zoro stared for a moment before looking up at the side and leaning back against the rim of the boat.

"Ya' know, Serious Luffy is crap." He stated casually. "Completely out of character. Really terrible!"

Luffy's eyes widened and he turned to Zoro. His eyes were shadowed by his hat. "Y-You don't like Serious Luffy?"

"Nope! Not a bit!"

Luffy looked at the deck for a moment before giggling, then chuckling, then he started laughing at a maniac. Zoro sent him a look. Luffy looked up at the sky and laughed insanely.

"You're insane, you know that?" Zoro grumbled. "Seriously, you should get that personality thing checked out-" He straighten up when he saw a teardrop ran down Luffy's cheek and hit the floor. "Oi. Oi! What's with you now? Are you bipolar or somethin-"

"I never liked Serious Luffy." Luffy grinned, "He's someone I never wanted to turn myself into. He sounds dead, doesn't he?" Luffy wiped away the tears from his eyes only for them to be replaced by more fresh ones. "He's someone who I loath. I despise him. He reminds me of painful things." Luffy's tone was so happy yet Zoro saw right through it. He saw the fingers tighten around Luffy's arms as his hugged his knees close to his chest.

"If he's so bad, why did you agree to act that way!?" Zoro growled.

"Because Zoro asked for it." Luffy replied simply. "Zoro wanted Luffy to be serious so Luffy went serious."

Zoro gritted his teeth before snorting. "You'll never be a good captain at this rate." He sighed. "Isn't the captain supposed to order around the crewmate? A pirate crew is no place for democracy."

Luffy looked up to the sky again. "You're right. I guess I'll never shake that habit..." Zoro noticed more tears streaming down Luffy's face.

"Why are you still crying?" He muttered. Luffy looked over to Zoro and Zoro stiffened.

"It hurts..." Luffy sniffed. "It hurts a lot, Zoro..." He buried his head between his legs and chest, body rattling with sobs.

Zoro looked at him with a neutral face before sighing. "Just because you were being serious?" Luffy let out a small grunt of confirmation. Zoro scratched the back of his head before wrapping an arm around Luffy and pulling him closed. Luffy looked up at him in surprise, but Zoro was already looking away. Luffy let out a small giggle before leaning against Zoro happily. _That's right... _Zoro's eyes looked back towards Luffy, who was shifting around to get comfortable. _I still don't know anything about you, Luffy. _

"Mm..." Luffy sounded. "Ace... Sabo..." Zoro looked over to see Luffy was sleeping against his shoulder.

"He falls asleep so easily." Zoro commented, though he was also a frequent napper. He set Luffy onto the ground and placed his straw hat over his face to block out the sun.

"Back." Zoro turned to see Nami hauling a huge bag of treasure on her back. She jumped into the boat next to theirs and threw the treasure down.

"That's your boat?" Zoro asked. "I has the Buggy mark on it..."

"Pirate Thief." Nami reminded.

"Ah."

* * *

"Good mornin'." Luffy sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"It's noon."

"Whatever." Luffy stretched out. "Pass me some fruit." He yawned. Zoro tossed him an apple and he started munching. "That old man was nice, giving us all this fruit."

A day ago, the trio had stumbled upon an island of strange creatures. There was this weird guardian of the forest who turned out to be some creepy old man stuck in a treasure chest. After helping him with a little quest, he gave them tons for fruits for their voyage.

"Yeah, but we need some grog on board before I die." Zoro muttered. Nami and Luffy turned to Zoro with the same half lidded expression.

"Be glad you're not starving." They replied, simultaneously. Zoro sweatdropped.

"Yeah, yeah." He waved it off.

Luffy shrugged. "But, Zoro's right. We _are_ lacking variety. We need more meat and..." He paled. "Vegetables..."

"What's so bad about vegetables?" Zoro asked.

"They're the snacks of Satan." Luffy muttered. "But vegetables are food and you shouldn't waste food so..." He started messing up his hair. "Damn it! Why can't vegetables be some kind of poisonous plant or something!?" He fell onto his back. "And I have to eat a lot since I still don't have my MEDS!"

Nami raised an eyebrow in question. "Meds?"

"I have a weak body, so I need lots of meds each day to keep me up to speed." Luffy explained.

"Weak?" Nami thought back to when Buggy was sent flying through the air. "Are you kidding me? You're scarily strong!"

"I'm still weak." Luffy sighed. "Compared to everyone else back at home, I'm still too weak...". He whispered.

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing." Luffy waved it off. "Not just strength wise, but immune system wise, I'm weak. Especially towards extremes. Extreme warmth, extreme cold."

"Really?" Nami whispered in fascination. "I never would have guessed..." She look at Luffy's arms. "But now that I look at you, you look malnourished. You have no meat or muscle on your limbs, yet you're strong. You could be compared to a bean sprout."

"I'm not..." Luffy muttered. "WE JUST NEED SOME MORE MILK ON THIS DAMN BOAT!" Luffy scowled.

"Nah, we need rum." Zoro replies, taking a bit out of another apple.

"SEE! EVEN ZORO WANTS MILK!"

"I said rum!"

Luffy turned over to Zoro mechanically with a creepy smile, eyes flashing. "What was that?"

"A-Ah, milk it is..." Zoro said, hastily. _I wonder where that demonic side comes from..._

* * *

_Somewhere in the Grand Line..._

Akiko: Achoo!

Chiasa: Are you catching a cold, Akiko?

Akiko: *sniffles* No… I don't think…

Chiasa: Perhaps someone's talking about you.

Akiko: *tick mark* Great, what's that brat up to now?

* * *

Nami pointed to a dot in the distance. "There! Gecko Island!" Luffy let out a cheer.

"Alright!" He grabbed the oars on his boat. "Let's go-"

Zoro grabbed Luffy's hand. "Oh no you don't. Last time you rowed the boat so fast you flung me off!"

Luffy pouted. "Fine, I'll row that boat slower. Stingy."

* * *

"PIRATES ARE COMING!" The scream rang through the small village. "WE'LL ALL BE KILLED!"

"Geez, at it again…"

"He doesn't stop, does he?"

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

* * *

**Review Responses: **

**Narya Anima: Luffy's back to normal, thank goodness!**

**One Piece Fan: Yes, Sanji and Luffy will understand each other's pain very well.**

**JustMe: Thank you very much!**

**Okay, why was the fight between Buggy and Luffy lame? I don't like this arc. Why was Zoro vs Cabaji so short? Zoro wasn't hurt and I don't like this arc. Also, Luffy lived around the strongest man in the world for years. He's bound to be powerful.**

**Anyway, that's all! BYE!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry about the eventless chapter...**

* * *

"HALT PIRATES!" A boy with a long nose shouted, voice ringing through the air.

Luffy smiled, fairly amused with the bravery act. "And if we don't?"

"Th-Then…" The long nosed teen stuttered, "I'll call upon my eight thousand men to beat you up!" Hundreds of flags shot up from the bushes. The teen grinned, confidently.

"Bring it on!" Luffy dropped into a fighting stance. "I'll kick your asses!"

"A-Are you insane?"

Zoro sighed before grabbing the hilt of one of his katanas while Nami just facepalmed. "He doesn't have eight thousand men, Luffy. It's a lie."

"I know."

"Crap! They saw through my lie!" The long nose gasped.

"See, he even admitted it." Nami pointed out.

The teen then straighten up before pointing at himself proudly. "I may not have the-"

"Yeah, yeah!" Luffy cut in. "There's three kids behind those bushes, we get it! Now, can you tell us where we can buy medicine? And, maybe some meat?" Zoro smirked. How much he loved the way Luffy got straight to the point.

Three small children popped out from the bushes and made a run for it. The long nosed boy turned around and shouted from them to come back, but to no avail.

"And maybe some milk, too?" Luffy added. Nami couldn't hold back a snicker or two when she thought back to the Rum Vs. Milk battle. She sent Zoro a glance, causing the swordsman to facepalm in despair.

"Do you promise not to terrorize the village?" The teen asked.

Luffy sighed. "Yeah, sure… Whatever-Your-Name-Is."

"Ussop."

"We promise, Ussop!"

* * *

"Oh meds, I've missed you for so long!" Luffy squealed, hugging his bag of medications as he walked down the street.

"You really like your medications, don't you." Zoro snorted. Luffy looked over to him before looking away. The green-haired swordsman caught a glimpse of sorrow flash in the boy's eyes before he returned to smiling.

Ussop just looked at him weirdly before pointing to a small tavern. "You wanted some food, right?" He confirmed. Luffy nodded affirmatively.

"That's a restu-"

Luffy had already disappeared in a puff of dust.

* * *

"Yum!" Luffy stuffed a piece of steak into his mouth. "I can't remember the last time I had a _real_ meal!"

"You call eating a barrel of fruit _not_ a real meal?" Nami deadpanned.

Luffy turned to Nami, offended. "Meat is the meaning of life. No meal is real without it." He explained as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Nami just sighed before taking a sip of water.

"So, what brings you here?" Usopp asked.

"Supplies." Luffy replied. "Maybe a bigger ship and a new crewmate."

Ussop then jerked a thumb at himself proudly. "If you want a crewmate, I'll fit the bill. But, only if I get to be captain."

"Keep dreaming." Luffy rolled his eyes. Zoro and Nami snickered a the curt remark. Ussop just gawked at him.

"Give me a chance!" He pleaded. Luffy sighed.

"Maybe you could show us where to get a bigger ship." Nami suggested. "We won't get anywhere in the circumstances we're in right now."

Ussop thought for a bit before saying, "Sorry, this is a pretty small town. I don't think we can provide a ship."

"What about that mansion?" Luffy pointed out the window to a luxurious looking mansion on the hill. Ussop stood up, slamming his hands into the table. The three looked over to him, a bit startled.

"You will not go near that mansion!" He stated with authority in his voice. Luffy blinked. "I-I mean…" Ussop stuttered. "I have to go now!" He ran out of the tavern.

"He's weird. Reminds me of someone." Luffy remarked, taking another bite out of his steak.

Zoro and Nami looked at him strangely. "That's gold coming from you." Zoro scoffed, drinking some of the milk in his cup. Luffy immediately snatched the cup away and drank all of it in one gulp. "Hey! What the hell!?"

Luffy smashed the mug into the table and pointed at Zoro. "Only I get to drink milk!"

"..."

"I refuse you let any of you grow taller!"

"..."

"Stop growing!"

"..."

"Captain's orders!"

* * *

_Meeting three kids, going to a mansion, meeting a jackass butler, and Ussop getting pissed later…_

* * *

"So you're Yassop's son! That all makes sense now!" Luffy appeared in front of Ussop, hanging from a tree branch. The startled teen fell backwards, pointing at Luffy, accusingly.

"Don't sneak up on people like that!" Ussop scolded. "It's creepy as hell! In fact, you're probably the epitome of 'creepy as hell!'"

"Really?" Luffy swung himself upright onto the branch and kicked his legs around. "I've been called 'insane' but not 'creepy as hell.' Why am I creepy?" He grinned.

"Well, f-f-for starters, you always have that creepy lookin' grin! And-And you always act like you know what's going to happen next, like a creep! Not to mention that creepy conversation you had with that stupid butler! And the creepy fact that you know my dad! And you creepily-!"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Luffy rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I'm creepy."

"Anyway, how _do_ you know my dad?" Ussop asked.

"Your dad is part of Red-Haired Shanks' crew." Luffy explained, dropping down from his branch and sitting next to Ussop. "He's the sharpshooter. Never missed."

"Wow!" Ussop exclaimed in awe. "My old man is sailing around with _thee_ Red-Haired Shanks! Amazing!"

"Seriously, I can't believe I didn't recognize your name right away." Luffy explained. "He talked about you so damn much it made my ears die the moment I heard 'Ussop.'" Ussop chuckled a bit from that. "So, are you ever going back to that mansion?"

Ussop scowled. "Not until that butler-!" Luffy suddenly covered his mouth and shoved his head down. The straw-hatted teen looked over the edge of the cliff, crouching down. Ussop started struggling before Luffy placed a finger over his mouth for Ussop to be quiet and then pointed down. That butler, Klahadore and some other weird guy were talking about something. It was hard to hear what was going on, which made Luffy's ears strain.

"Hey." He whispered. "Can you hear them?" Ussop nodded a bit. "What're they saying?" He took his hand away from Ussop's mouth. There was a pause for a moment. The long nosed boy listened closely before his eyes widened in horror. "Hey, what did they say?"

"Operation: Kill Ms. Kaya…" Ussop barely sounded before jumping up and running away. "I need to warn the villagers and Kaya!" He shouted before Luffy tackled him to the ground and looked over the edge of the cliff.

"Good, they didn't hear you." Luffy sighed. He then turned to Ussop and glared. "So what if you tell the villagers? You're the boy who cried wolf. No one's gonna believe you until they all get killed."

"I have to do something!" Ussop gritted his teeth.

"Then wait." Luffy whispered. "We'll fend them off when they attack. Tomorrow, right?" Ussop nodded with a gulp. "I'll tell Nami and Zoro. We'll all be ready."

Ussop looked like he was about to object before he grumbled affirmatively. "Fine…"

"Good, let's get out of here."

They ran back to meet up with Nami and Zoro in the small village, telling them everything they had heard. Well, Ussop had heard. Usopp ended up making dozens of traps on the South Bay. They all went back to their respective homes, or in the trio's case, boats, and waited for dawn.

* * *

_"From today forward, you are my pet. You'll do everything I tell you to do and never oppose me. You'll be on my leash forever and I'll take you for walks around the town as you crawl on fours. You'll be my dog and sit on the ground, obeying, as I pet you. You'll fetch me things and let me ride you like a prized puppy." Charloss' smile turned wicked as he picked his nose. "You'll never be free." His hand reached forward to grab the dog collar tightened harshly around Luffy's neck and opened the clip at the end of his leash._

* * *

Luffy shot up from his sleeping position and curled up into a ball. His breaths came out heavy and shaky. He felt like he was having an asthma attack. He waited for his breathing to calm down for a bit before lying on his back, sprawled out on the deck of his boat. He looked over to the moon shining in the cold night sky. Of course he didn't feel any of his brother's' presence. It was probably midnight or something. None of them had as many sleeping problems and insomnia issues as he did. Boy, he really wished he could have at least one restful night for once. But, nope! The world must really hated him, sending all those stupid problems towards him. If he ever got to meet that higher power up there, he won't hear the end of it. Luffy would promise him that.

He sat back up and looked out towards the ocean. The boy sighed before smiling. The ocean always gave him a comforting feeling. It just washed all his worries away with the tides. His eyes then hardened when he thought of the amount of pain the ocean had brought him too. He loathed himself right now.

Vulnerable, afraid, _tired_, a chaotic mess.

He could feel the headache creeping in. Luffy sighed and cupped his head in his hands. Damn, he couldn't take many sleepless nights anymore. One more night and he might crack. The right side of his skull pulsed sharply and he couldn't help but flinch. Yep, the lack of sleep was really starting to affect him. Luffy looked over to the bag of medications before glaring hatefully at it. He didn't want to take any. He never wanted them. He just wanted to be that happy boy who only ever wanted to become Pirate King. Not this pathetic shadow of how he's supposed to be.

_What's wrong with me?_ Luffy banged his fist against his head. He looked over to Zoro, who was soundly sleeping, loud snores emitting for his nose and mouth. How can people sleep like that? So goddamn peaceful. Why did Zoro get to sleep without a care when he needed to drown himself in insomnia pills and medicines for headaches? With every thought, Luffy began to detest himself even more. More importantly, Luffy realized that he was starting to wish harm upon his crewmate, unintentionally. Shaking his head, he gently smacked his cheeks with his hands to rid himself of those thoughts.

"Can't sleep, captain?" Luffy's eyes widened and he whipped around, scarf sliding off his neck.

"Who-!" He was about to demand a name before he saw Nami and sighed. "Nami…"

"I couldn't sleep either." Nami shrugged and looked up at the sky from her boat. "No clouds tonight, huh."

Luffy nodded before looking over to the bag of medications and brushed it aside. He lowered his head onto his knees and stared half lidded at the ocean. "Hey, Nami…"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like the ocean?"

"Hm?" Nami raised a questioning eyebrow. "Well, yeah... " She started before getting fired up. "What I don't like are the pirates was roam them, ya' know!"

"..."

"A-Ah! I mean, I like you guys-"

"It's okay." Luffy muttered. Nami held her tongue before her expression became more serious. Luffy's eyes went unblinking. "I also had a time when I hated the ocean." His eyes became more normal when he lifted his head. Nami blinked at him for a second. "I-I mean, er…!" He grabbed his scarf and wrapped it around his neck, sinking his head behind the fluffiness. A puff of steam rolled off of his face. "Everyone hates things for different reasons, right…?" His voice was muffled by the scarf. "I mean, ah… you know what, whatever…" Luffy covered his face with his scarf. Nami let out an exasperated sigh.

"Do you have a mood disorder, too?" She deadpanned. "First you're all on guard, then you're angsty, and now you're embarrassed and depressed at the same time. Are you sure you don't have some kind of extreme degree of bipolar?"

"I do not!" Luffy argued before that pounding sensation shot through his head again and he flinched. "Ow…"

Nami's eyes started to soften and then hardened with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Luffy assured, "Just a small headache."

"Shouldn't you be taking medication for it, then?"

Luffy gritted his teeth and his hands curled into fists. His fingernails dug into his palms. "No." He eyed his medications. "I don't want to."

Nami stared for a moment before becoming annoyed with the answer. "You don't want to? That has to be the most childish thing I've even heard! You're not seven, Luffy! Medications are important. It's not a matter of wanting or not wanting to." Luffy became more angered as Nami went on. "And, weren't you happy when you got your medications again? I swear, you're so confusing!"

"I just don't wanna take them right now…" Luffy stretched out his limbs. "I'm gonna go for a walk." He jumped off the boat and started walking away.

"Wait, what about sleep?" Nami called after him before growling, "You're so confusing!"

Luffy shrugged. "Just engaging in some self pity." He walked away, raising a hand to signal his departure..

The orange-haired thief just stared after him before sighing. "Sad looks don't fit your face, Luffy."

* * *

Omake:

Conversation with Captain Kuro- How it REALLY went down...

Luffy: *Points* Hey, I just met you.

Klahadore: ...

Luffy: *Crosses arms* And, this is crazy!

Klahadore: Um...

Luffy: *Places finger over mouth* But, I know your secret!

Klahadore: _What!?_

Luffy: *Swipes his finger across his throat, emotionless* So, I'll kill you, maybe/definitely.

Everyone else: THAT'S NOT HOW THE DAMN SONG GOES!

(Not really.)

* * *

**Nothing special really happens in this chapter, but don't worry! Actions starts next chapter! Hopefully I'll post it soon. **

**Ace: You bitch... HOW DARE YOU GIVE LUFFY A NIGHTMAR-**

***Erases him from story* Anyway that's all for now!**

**Review Responses:**

**XxCaptainPirateK: Yes, yes I can.**

**MeganeD: Yeah, I don't like the Buggy Arc. Hope you liked this chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Did I just make Nami useless in this chapter? Yes. Yes, I did. Deal with it.**

* * *

The next day, they all met up at the South Bay before dawn only to realise the pirates were going to attack on North Boy. When they finally made it to the North Bay (Luffy having to constantly drag Zoro the right way) they were out of breath and frankly not amused with what they saw, except for Luffy. It was a mini army of people with silly cat ears. Luffy sat down at the top of the slope, letting out a harsh breath before laughing his guts out.

"A-Are you kidding me!?" He gasped between laughs, "They look ridiculous! How can people take these guys seriously!?"

The pirates started growling, causing Nami and Ussop to have minor panic attacks. "You dolt, you're making them mad!"

Luffy, however just waved it off, giggling. "Oh, geez." He chuckled before sitting casually on the top of the slope. "I can't take them seriously. You guys can fight them."

"What!?" They all shouted in outrage. "You have to fight too!"

"How can I fight if I can't take me enemy seriously?" Luffy giggled. "You people can take care of them easily! Besides, I'm not in my game today…"

Nami remember what happened last night. Luffy didn't get any sleep at all. She could even see the darkening circles under his eyes if she looked close enough. The orange haired thief sighed before attaching her boa staff together. "Fine, but you're jumping in if anything goes wrong."

Luffy pointed in Zoro's direction. "You have him." Zoro already had a sword in his mouth.

The Black Cat Pirates were increasingly frustrated with the ignorance they were receiving. Jango gritted his teeth. "They're treating us like a joke! No matter! Attack!" The pirates rushed towards the slope in rage with a loud battle cry. Ussop brought out his slingshot and aimed it at one of the men, knocking the pirate down.

"Nice! Keep at it!" Nami shouted, bonking a pirate on the head. Her eyes averted to a pirate hauling her treasure out of her boat and a vein started popping out of her forehead. "That's my treasure!" She ran towards the boat, trying to knock out any men in her way.

Zoro just simply sliced every pirate that got near the slope with great ease. He didn't even bother to tie his bandana on his head. Luffy was right, these guys were a joke.

Luffy was, however, yawning from exhaustion and observing how well his crew did in a battle. He wasn't that keen on watching since he was so damn tired. His eyes started drooping before he heard a sickening crack on the battlefield and his eyes flung open, darting across the bay. Ussop's head had been crushed by a hammer and he was know bleeding on the ground.

"Ussop!" He jumped up before seeing Ussop cling onto the man who hit him with the hammer, refusing to let him progress towards the slope. The poor long nosed teen's head was smashed in several times by the hammer before another pirate charged with a sword in hand. Luffy decided now was a good time to step in and he suddenly appeared in beside the pirate with the sword, catching the edge of the blade in between his teeth. Nami, who was about to save Ussop as well, could only stare before another pirate came at her and she dodged the sword before it could cut her. The pirate's eyes widened in horror when he realized he couldn't shake his sword out of the straw hatted teen's teeth. Luffy clenched his jaw, causing the blade to shatter.

"M-Monster!" He stuttered. Luffy just sent to man a slightly crazed grin.

"So you're the coward type." Luffy spat a piece of metal out of his mouth. "I have to say, I highly dislike people like you. Two against one person who's defenseless isn't nice." The pirates around the teen were apparently scared shitless. Luffy towered over the man, who's fallen on his butt. "You wouldn't mind if your head was smashed in, too, would you?" Luffy's expression turned extremely serious before he punched the man in the face, sending him into the ground and creating a small earthquake along with it.

The pirates were speechless. This had to be some kind of dream, because no child could do such a thing. He created a crater in the ground with a punch. The just wasn't possible!

Zoro rested his shoulders a bit, seeing that all the enemies were horrified and stunned with what they saw. The swordsman snorted. _That captain._

Luffy turned to the rest of the pirates with that pissed off expression and pointed at all of them. "I don't want to deal with you, either! Hit the bricks!"

The inspirited pirates started backing away a bit before Jango opened his mouth, "What are you doing!? This is nothing compared to what Kuro will do to us if he finds out we're running late! Look at me!" The pirates turned to Jango as the hypnosis started swinging his ring side to side. "When I say 'One, Two, Jango' you'll all become stronger!"

"You gotta be kidding me." Luffy scoffed.

"One! Two! Jango!" The Black Cat Pirates started growling federally before becoming blind with rage. Their muscle mass also started increasing before they turned back around, shrieking and displaying their new found strength. One pirate in particular punched the side of a cliff, which promptly caved in and toppled onto the sandy ground. Luffy sighed in despair before swinging his leg back lazily.

"Whip." He grumbled before swinging his leg forward, causing it to stretch, sending many men to the side. "I'm too sleepy for this shit." He muttered. Nami, who had helped Ussop up, stared at Luffy in awe.

"Annoying damn flies." Zoro said before cutting down many more pirates in his way. Nami and Ussop rested at the top of the slope, watching the scene of chaos unfold.

"They're so strong." Ussop gasped. Nami nodded numbly.

The fight was going so well until Jango called upon the Nyaban Brothers who just stuttered like cowards as Jango ordered them to take care of the two. Luffy sweatdropped. Seriously? This was Jango's trump card?

"I'll handle this one, Luffy." Zoro snorted, readying his sword. Luffy nodded and sat again the wall of a cliff, watching as one Nyaban brother charged towards Zoro half-heartedly.

_This isn't right. This is too easy._ Luffy's eyes narrowed. The aura suddenly shifted and Luffy's eyes widened. The killer intent. "Zoro! It's a trick!" He shouted.

Zoro looked confused for a bit before he realised what Luffy was saying. The enemy attacked Zoro with much force, causing the swordsman to grit his teeth as he blocked.

"Keep an eye on your other two katanas!" Zoro placed a hand where his katana were supposed to be and felt another hand trying to grab them. Luffy sighed when Zoro jumped back, clutching his other two katana tightly. They really needed to keep their guard up in the future with simple tricks like these.

"That damn straw hatted kid is annoying." Jango growled. "When I say 'One, Two, Jango' you'll fall asleep!" Luffy turned his head to the hypnotist in confusion.

"One! Two, Jango!"

"No, Luffy! Look away!" Nami shouted in distress. Luffy blink before yawning.

"Was he doing something?" Luffy rubbed his eyes. Nami and Ussop gaped at the boy. Was he immune to hypnotism?

"What!? Why didn't it work!?" Jango demanded an answer.

"So tired..." Luffy kept rubbing his eyes.

Zoro smirked a bit before pulling out his other two katanas. Jango gritted his teeth.

"Buchi! Go get that sword guy!" Jango commanded. The rounder one of the Nyaban Brothers darted towards Zoro with a battle cry. The mosshead snorted and brought two of his katanas behind him in an attack stance.

"Tora Gari!" The Nyaban Brothers collapsed in a heap of flaying limbs and blood. Luffy clapped his hands with a grin.

"Yay, Zoro!" He cheered. "That was awesome!"

Zoro had to admit, the praise was a huge boost to his pride.

"JANGO!" A voice rang across the clearly, making the Black Cat Pirates tremble in fear. "WHAT IS THIS!?"

Jango immediately melted into a heap of stutters and panic, launching excuse after excuse about how the kids were stronger than they looked and Luffy was so annoyed with all this bullshit and chit chat was he appeared in front of Jango, grabbed his face, and threw him into the cliff, knocking the man out.

"Goddamn, he's annoying." Luffy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Worse day for a battle, _ever_." The pirate fleet gaped at him in shock and horror. He defeated Jango like nothing.

_Scary…_

Ussop raised an eyebrow. "What's with this guy? Yesterday he was all bubbly and today he's pissed off."

Nami sighed. "He's tired. I guess that makes him grumpy. He's usually happy and cute."

"Cute?"

"Hey, I even Zoro admitted it."

Zoro heard Nami talking about him and turned to her, eyes flashing. "What?" He growled. Nami shrugged.

"You think it. I know you do."

Kuro stood there for a moment to process what he just saw. That boy seemingly teleported to Jango and knocked him out clean. _So he can pinpoint where he wants to end up. No matter. _"I'll just have to kill you all!" He adjusted the long claw like weapons on his hands.

Kaya's voice suddenly cut in, yelling at Kuro to stop and even pulled a gun out at him. Luffy's anger and annoyance started raising when Kuro started trashing talking the poor girl and explaining how much he'd suffered because of her. Ussop had had enough and attempted to punch the bastard but Kuro just dodged effortlessly.

_His movements are quick. _Luffy noted. _How well is he at pinpointing though?_ Luffy kicked the ground and stepped between Kuro and Ussop, grabbing the man's blades in his hand. "You know why I don't like your crew?" Luffy asked, the claws starting to make his hands bleed. Kuro tried shaking the blades out of the teen's hand, but failed. Luffy tried to focus on his hand and a thin coat of black cover his hand. "You people just go on and on about 'This, this, this' and it really annoys me. You know, you could have saved the girl some of the mental trauma by just summarizing your speech into one sentence."

"What's that thing you're doing with your hand?" Kuro growled before raising his other hand and swinging forward. Luffy blackened his other fist and reached up to grab the other blades. Kuro noticed that the other hand wasn't bleeding. It was like the black stuff was some kind of armor.

The armor started fading and Luffy cursed. "Damn it." He hands started bleeding from fresh new cuts and he jumped back, shaking the pain out of his palms. Ussop collapsed onto the ground into an awkward position.

"Ussop!"

"Kaya, get away from here…" Ussop whispered. Kaya started shaking her head.

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Hurry and leave! We'll fend them off! Get to safety!" Luffy shouted. Kaya stiffened, the tears coming back to her eyes.

"Kaya, we all have a job. Yours is to make sure you're safety. Can you do that?" Ussop asked. Kaya wiped her eyes and nodded before getting up and running towards the woods, back to the village.

_Good with words…_ Zoro mused.

"Nami, ensure her safety!" Luffy ordered. Nami nodded and chased after the girl.

"I won't let you hurt the villagers or Kaya!" Ussop said. Kuro raised an eyebrow before laughing, crually.

"You!? What a joke! You're no match for me!"

"I may be no match for you, but I'll definitely protect them, no matter what!" Ussop vowed. Luffy nodded, pressing his lips together.

"I am Captain Ussop!" The long nose exclaimed. "I'm a brave warrior of the sea and I won't let you harm the villagers!" The remaining Black Cat Pirates started verbally abusing him, calling him names and laughing until a giant boulder flew their way, courtesy of Monkey. D. Luffy.

"Make fun of Ussop again and I'll tear off your heads, stick them on pikes, and let them rot on this very beach." He hissed. "Zoro."

"Yeah?"

"Guard Ussop."

"Got it."

Luffy cracked his knuckles. "I think Mister Totally Pirate Guy needs some pep talk." Luffy then made one of his adorable "in thought" faces. "Maybe he'll get it if I punch him enough."

Zoro flinched, knowing that face wasn't innocent. "Don't make that face, it's creepy."

Luffy grinned. "You catch onto my game pretty quickly, Zoro." Luffy made the first move, trying to punch Kuro in the face. Kuro, however evaded and charged at Luffy, claws ready. As the fight continued, the other pirates cheered for Captain Kuro to win, only for the man to grow angry and decide to kill them all. He started swaying from side to side, causing his crewmates to panic. Then Kuro just… vanished. Luffy felt a gust of wind move past him blades connected with his side. He gritted his teeth and turned around. The cliffs and ground were being sliced through as well, though the slices were progressing towards the large group of Black Cat Pirates on the edge of the bay.

"He's headed for the crew!" Luffy gritted his teeth and stood in front of the Black Cat Pirates. _He's about the speed of an average Soru, but he's not paying attention to wear he's cutting... _A few pirates behind him fell down with cries of anguish and he turned around. Another slash cut across his arm. He grabbed what seemed like thin air for a moment before the body became clear and Luffy was holding onto Kuro's face. _Thank you, Observation Haki._ Luffy thought, relieved.

The pirates all cheered for the straw hatted teen to knock the man out before Luffy shouted at them to shut up before he went through with his threat about the pikes.

"You should have just let me kill them. They're useless, just pawns!"

"They're your nakama, you bastard!" Luffy growled, tightening his hand around the man's skull. Kuro winced. Luffy smirked. "Does that hurt? _That _was for Ussop." He crushed the skull even more. "_That _was for pissing me off. I was hoping you wouldn't be so troublesome, but you ended up being a pain in the ass. You caught me at the wrong time, Kuro." Kuro let out a gasp of pain. "I want you to feel all the pain you've inflicted on everyone you've ever hurt."

Zoro sweatdropped. _A sadist…?_

_Wait a minute..._ Kuro gritted his teeth. _I feel like I've seen his face somewhere. _A sudden image flashed in his mind. The various mangled and limp bodies on the ground. A shadowy figure standing in the middle of the madness, holding a hat in his hands. This lack of proper lighting on the kid's face made him look almost identical to the photo. _It's just like in the news papers. __Why is he in the East Blue? And, where are the other two they mentioned?_ "You're one of those Demon Children of Whi-"

"Demon Children?" Ussop whispered.

Luffy's hand muffled Kuro's proclamation, staring down the man with growing red eyes. "Any last words before I send you to unconsciousness?"

Kuro glared at Luffy. "My plan cannot fail!"

Luffy snorted. "Sad last words." He smashed his head into Kuro's. The man coughed up that crimson red liquid before Luffy let go of his face and he dropped to the ground. He turned to the pirates and grabbed Kuro by the collar, sending him crashing onto the ship. "You! Take him and never come back!" The pirates screamed in terror before scrambling up the ladders to the ship's deck. In only a few seconds, they were long gone. Luffy spun around on his heels to face Zoro and Ussop. Zoro sheathed his swords before giving Luffy a thumbs up. Ussop blinked before offering a smile of gratitude and copying the gesture. Luffy grinned before giving them a lazy thumbs up back before yawning. Seriously, he just wanted to go to sleep.

* * *

**Why did Luffy not get hypnotized? Think about it. Would Luffy really allow himself to be controlled? After everything he's been through? (Even is he wanted to sleep...)**

**So, the news about these "Demon Children" has been mentioned again! Dun dun DUUUN!**

**Also, sorry if the quality of this chapter was bad. I hate writing fight scenes and the Kuro Arc was also a bit boring for me in some senses. **

**Well, I should have enjoyed it while it lasted because next chapter is Yosaku and Johnny. Ugh.**

**Review Responses: **

**azure: That's fine, I'm just glad you enjoy this!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Basically, when Luffy loosens that scarf, shit's gonna go down.**

* * *

_After being gifted the Going Merry, making their flag, and almost failing to shoot a canon later… _

Luffy rubbed his eye with a hand, head bobbing up and down. He was currently sitting against the mast, nodding off in complete drowsiness. Zoro was sleeping against the mast, next to the boy. Nami and Ussop lied on the floor, tired from painting the flag symbol on their sail and tying the flag on the lookout post.

"COME OUT HERE, YOU PIRATES!" A voice shouted, clearly not amused. "How dare you kill my friend!"

Luffy stopped rubbing his eyes and look up, clearly very annoyed. "Who's that?"

The owner of the voice jumped onto the ship and kicked over a barrel. He had tan skin and the kanji symbol for "Sea" tattooed on his left cheek. He wielded a sword with a flat tip.

"YOU!" The man turned to the group of four. "YOU KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!"

_So close to getting some sleep._ Luffy huffed. _So… close…_ The more Luffy thought about how sleep deprived he was, the more he just wanted to kill this guy. "What the hell are you talking about?" The raven haired boy stood up. "Don't mess up my ship!" The man was then promptly thrown at a wall.

Zoro yawned, cracking open an eye. "What's going on?"

Luffy fell onto his butt and sighed, "I was just about to fall asleep too."

Zoro turned to the man, who was lying awkwardly on the deck. He raised an eyebrow in realization. "Johnny?"

"Big Bro Zoro!" The man- Johnny- exclaimed in delight. "Is that really you!?"

"Where's Yosaku? Aren't you usually with him?"

Nami, Luffy, and Ussop looked between the invader and the mosshead in question. "They know each other?"

Johnny gritted his teeth in despair. "Yosaku is…"

"Sick!?"

"Yes…" Johnny stated, setting his partner on the deck of the Going Merry. His expression was grim and defeated as he explained the symptoms Yosaku has been dealing. He also mentioned how a cannon destroyed the rock they were resting on. Ussop and Luffy gaped at him before apologizing. Nami immediately called scurvy and had Ussop shove a bucket of lime juice down the poor man's throat. Yosaku immediately jumped up with new life and the two bounty hunters started dancing in joy. Yosaku then spat out blood and fell over, unconscious. Zoro yelled at their idiocy and told Yosaku to rest.

They took the time to discuss who they needed on their crew and decided that a cook was probably the most reasonable. Johnny made himself useful and told them about a restaurant on the seas called, "Baratie."

After a bit of sailing, Johnny cheered in excitement. "We're here at the restaurant!"

The crew all gathered at the railing to see a huge floating restaurant with a fish head and tail. "Wow!"

Just then, a marine ship, larger than their own sailed right next to them. They all had their guard up as a purple haired marine stepped out. He introduced himself "Iron Fist Fullbody" and then immediately ordered for their "eyesore of a ship" to be shot down. The cannonball was fired and Luffy jumped in front of it, flinging it right back at the ship, but missed. As the object hit the water, it caused a huge wave that crashed over the boat and promptly sunk it. Helpless marines swam towards pieces of wreckage to stay afloat while shouting random curses upon the straw hatted teen.

"Well, that's for being frickin' annoyin', ya' jerks!" Luffy shouted in anger before turned around to the crew and grinning. "To the restaurant!" Before yawning and rubbing his eyes, whining about sleep, again.

Yosaku and Johnny just gaped at him while his crew sighed. "Don't think I'll ever get used to that…"

* * *

"What was that!?" Sanji growled at the ship shook a bit. The some of the cook were gaping as they looked outside the windows, along with the customers.

"Th-The… The ship… The cannon…" A cook gawked, unable to speak complete sentences. "The boy…"

The blonde haired cook bit down on his cigarette in irritation. "What?" Sanji pushed the cook aside and peered out the window to see a marine boat completely in shambles. A boy jumped off the railing, onto the deck of the pirate ship he was on while the marines raged at him. "Don't tell me the boy did that…"

The cooks and customers nodded numbly and the blonde sighed. "The ocean is a mysterious place…"

The pirate ship docked and four people walked into the restaurant. One guy had green hair and a grumpy looking expression. Another guy had a long nose and a happy expression as he was teasing a boy next to him. Speaking of the boy, he was a small, wimpy looking boy with a tattered straw hat.

"Sanji…" A cook whispered. "That's the boy who destroyed the ship."

Sanji blinked at him before turning his head back to the boy, who was currently rubbing his eyes. "Seriously? That shimpy looking boy?"

The cooks nodded, in complete panic.

Sanji gritted his teeth. _What does he want with the restaurant? _Now he was really paranoid about the boy. But, damn, the kid seriously looked so adorably harmless. And, that's saying something, because Sanji would never admit adorableness to anyone. Of course, the ladies were the exception. Speaking of ladies…

Sanji's mouth suddenly dropped, his cigarette falling to the floor. He swore his heart just skipped a beat. As the group of four was seated by Patty, his eyes fell on a gorgeous goddess. Her beauty was stunning, truly amazing. As Patty walked away, Sanji immediately appeared at the table.

"I've never seen such a beautiful figure! I think I'm in love!" Sanji swooned, taking the girl's hand in his. "What is your name, my sweet?"

"N-Nami…"

"What gorgeous name for one such as yourself!" Sanji handed the orange haired goddess a rose. "My name is Sanji, my love! How may I be of service to you this afternoon?"

Nami smiled, innocently. "I'll just have something light for now, with fruit. Also, the food is a bit too expensive for me…"

"Everything is free, my lady!"

The blonde haired cook then turned to the rest of them. "What do you shitheads want?" He asked, rather rudely. The boys sweatdropped.

_What an attitude change…_ They thought, a bit shocked, but ordered anyway. Sanji turned to the boy in the straw hat, sighing.

"What do you want?" He muttered. The boy just kept rubbing his eyes.

The mosshead shook the boy's shoulder. "Luffy, he asked what you wanted."

"Oh, um…" The boy -Luffy- took a hand away from his right eye and looked at the menu. "Something with meat, I guess."

Sanji facepalmed, causing the other three at the table to look at each other with small smirks.

"Do you need a kid's menu, or something?"

"How rude! I'm seventeen, ya' know!" Luffy complained before rubbing his eyes again. Everyone around the vicinity of the table was listening to the conversation. This kid was, after all, the one who grabbed a cannonball out of the air, and flew it right back at the marine ship.

"Just order the food already."

"I asked for something with meat in it."

"Be more specific!"

"Well…"

"And, stop rubbing your eyes!"

"I'm tired."

"I can't believe you're actually the one who sunk the marine ship."

"Looks can be deceiving." The mosshead shrugged before ordering some steak for Luffy, as he was too preoccupied with trying to stay awake. Sanji snorted in amusement before walking away.

Zoro: "Hey! Don't fall asleep on me, you idiot!"

Luffy: "I'm so sleepy, though! Nami! Zoro's being mean to me!"

Nami: "When did _I _become the mother? Ussop, move."

Ussop: "Huh? Why me?"

Nami: "Go sit next to Zoro. Come over here, Luffy. You can sleep on my shoulder."

That fateful moment, Sanji decide Luffy would be on his list of people to kill.

* * *

Sanji then came back with the food, purposed making a plate filled with vegetables in front of Luffy. The crew sweatdropped when seeing the killer intent radiating off the cook.

"Aw, Sanji, you made the wrong food."

"Deal with it, shrimp." Sanji smirked. That made the crew wince.

"I'm not a shrimp!" Luffy shouted. "All of you are just abnormal!"

Sanji blinked at the raging teen, ranting about different ridiculous theories for their "inhuman" height. _Does he always do this when he's called out for being short?_ "Vegetables are good for you."

"Snacks of Satan, I tell you!" Luffy shrieked. "They haunt you in your dreams with their false nutrition-ness!"

"That's not a word…"

"I beg to differ!" Luffy pointed a butter knife at the confused blonde. "I swear, you're the devil's spawn for bring be such an evil dish!"

Sanji scoffed, "You'd better not waste it, shithead."

Luffy's lips pressed against each other and he turned to the horrifying plate of vegetables. Closing his eyes, he grabbed the plate and dumped all the content into his mouth before swallowing. He handed the plate to Sanji and glared. "Happy? Not a scrap left. Now please get me some meat." He grumbled before turning pale and covering his mouth.

"Easy there, Luffy!" Ussop panicked. "That's what happens with you swallow everything at once, idiot!"

Luffy forced all the food back down his esophagus and took in a deep breath. "Hate vegetables." He gagged out as Nami rubbed his back. Sanji blinked once or twice before Zoro growled at him.

"Now look at what you've done! You almost made him throw up!"

"I don't know that he was going to actually eat it, let alone do what he did, mosshead!"

"What was that, dart brow!?"

Luffy let out a few coughs before looking up at Sanji with a blue smile. "Bring me some meat, soon. And, some milk."

Sanji gritted his teeth. "Yeah, whatever." He muttered before walking away with the practically clean plate.

"I think he's holding a grudge against you, Luffy." Ussop whispered across the table.

"Ah?" Luffy coughed. "Why is tha-" He covered his mouth again.

Ussop: "Ahh! Zoro! Give Luffy your water!"

Zoro: "Oka-" *spills* "Shit!"

Nami: "You idiot!"

Ussop: "Use your water, Nami!"

Zoro: "Ussop! You sandwich has meat in it! Give him the meat!"

Ussop: "Idiot, it doesn't work that way!"

Nami: "Here, drink this, Luffy."

Luffy: "Th-Thanks, Nami…"

Nami: Don't drink it so fast, you moron! You'll try to throw up again!

Sanji bit down on his cigarette. _Why did he eat it? He clearly hates vegetables…_ He took a unnoticable glance over his shoulder to see Luffy gulping down water from Nami's glass. _What's with this guy?_

* * *

A pale and thin figure stomped into the restaurant, dripping wet from head to toe. All the customers turned to the strangers as we walked to an empty table and sat down.

He glared at no one in particular. "What? This is a restaurant, isn't it? Bring me some food!"

Patty walked over to the man with a happy grin. "A customer! Oh joy!"

Luffy yawned and muttered about how Sanji was taking forever to make his meat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sanji walk out of the kitchen, but with no meat.

"Do you have any money?" Patty continued.

The man held a gun up to Patty's forehead and asked if a bullet worked. Patty responded by sending the poor guy crashing into the ground without mercy. The people in the restaurant cheered as Patty proceeded to be the living crap out of the pirate and threw him out.

"Breaking my furniture again…" A old guy with a braided beard grumbled. Probably the head chef.

Luffy got up from the table and made his way towards the hulking chef. He loosened his scarf.

Zoro facepalmed. "Damn it, not this again." He muttered, remembering what happened to Helmeppo.

The other two crew members looked over to Zoro. "What's going to happen?"

Luffy tapped Patty on the shoulder and the man turned around. "Do you need anything, customer?" Patty asked with that sick grin. Luffy smiled back before gritting his teeth and kicking Patty right across the face. Nami and Ussop gawked, along with everyone else as Patty was sent crashing into empty tables and chairs before making a human shaped dent in the back wall. The chef was out cold.

The entire room was silent before the chefs started rioting.

"What's your problem, kid!?"

"You ruined the restaurant!"

"What did Patty ever do to you!?"

"SHUT UP!" Luffy roared, causing the place to go quiet again.

Zoro smirked. This was the captain he chose to follow.

Luffy scowled at the cooks. If looks could kill, Luffy would be the strongest man on the seas. "You're all cooks, aren't you!? It's your job to feed people, isn't it!?" He turned to the cooks as if he were daring them to answer him. "Does it matter if he comes in looking like shit without money!? Huh!? Does it!? No, it doesn't! You go in your kitchen and go make food!"

A cook opened his mouth. "But, he had no money to-"

"DOES MONEY FILL YOUR STOMACH!?" Luffy shouted. "HUH!?"

Nami leaned over the table to whisper to Ussop and Zoro, "Why is he getting so riled up?"

Zoro shrugged. "He has a pent up rage against things like that."

The boy exhaled and walked out the door.

* * *

Luffy didn't really know what he was doing. There he was, sitting on the railing beside a starving man. He felt as if he were mocking the guy in some way. Maybe he should have saved his vegetables instead of eating them all. If really made him sick, thinking about how he almost puked the vegetables out in disgust then this man could have appreciated them.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"For what?" The man asked back.

"... I don't know." Luffy sighed. "I'm Luffy. How about you?"

"Gin." The man replied. "I… I heard you yelling… back there."

"You did, huh…"

"Thanks."

Luffy looking away. "Don't thank me. It not like I solved your hunger issue anyway."

"Why were you so angry?"

Luffy bit his lip. "People like that just make me so angry. They're so selfish that they don't even care if you're dying if you don't have money. I know this guy who wakes up every morning and has to cook meals for thousands of people every breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He never asks for anything in return and people sometimes take him for granted, but he doesn't really care. So some reason, I feel that cook that kicked you out was tarnishing my friend's image."

"He sounds like a great guy."

"He is."

The door swung open and Sanji stepped out, a plate of food in hand. He placed the plate of food in front of Gin and sat down against the railing. Gin didn't waste anytime and started digging into the meal. With every bite he took he grew more teary eyed until he started full blown crying in joy.

"Thank you! It tastes great!"

Sanji grinned. "Damn right, it does."

Luffy smiled. "I'm happy for you. You got your food."

"Yes, thank you!" Gin sobbed.

Luffy chuckled and jumped off the railing. "Well, I'm going back to my crew." He then turned around before opening the door. "Oh, and Sanji."

"What." Sanji grumbled.

"Don't forget to get rid of the evidence."

"Whatever."

"Oh yeah, Sanji."

"What now?"

"You're joining my crew."

Sanji blinked before gawking. "W-Wait!"

The door slammed shut.

"I HATE YOU!"

The door opened and Luffy's head popped out, smiling. "Thank you~" The door slammed yet again.

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU AT ALL!"

* * *

Luffy entered the restaurant smiling until he realized everyone was staring at him. "What?" He glared. Great, now the good mood he'd just gotten back was rotting again. They looked away from the teen which irritated him even more. "What's with the staring?" He grumbled, plopping down in his chair.

"You know, you kinda kicked a chef across the room." Nami shrugged.

"He was annoying."

Ussop shivered at Luffy's carelessness. "Right... I think he has a concussion."

"Serves him right."

* * *

_All was well until nighttime rolled around…_

"_He tried to escape again?" _

"_Yes sir, Saint Charloss. He recaptured him before he could break out the building."_

_Saint Charloss stared down at Luffy with cold eyes. The boy stared back up, straight in the eyes. Unwavering. Strong to hide how much he was breaking down inside. The taste of iron filled his mouth when the tip of the Noble's shoe nailed him in the stomach. The place where a seastone bullet had wedged itself into his skin. Luffy gagged a bit more before taking in deep breaths to ease the pain. _

"_I ordered you to not look at me like that before, slave." Charloss growled. "Bow your head!"_

_Luffy glared up at Charloss again, spitting on him. "I'd rather drink my own piss, bastard."_

"_How dare you talk to Saint Charloss like that!" A guard shouted, proceeding to beat the ever living shit out of Luffy and chaining him to the wall by the neck and wrists. "What shall we do with him, Sir?"_

"_Leave him in the torture room for two weeks. Don't bother to give him food or water." _

"_Yes, Sir!"_

Two weeks later...

"_Still alive?" _

_Luffy looked up at the guard, vision blurry. He could only see the faded outlining of the guard through the darkness. He was carrying something. A plate. Food. "Hungry…"_

"_Sit up." _

_Mustering up all the strength in his arms, Luffy pushed himself off the floor and leaned against the hard, concrete wall. The chains clinked against each other, hurting his ears. Letting out a few shaky breaths, he opened his eyes again, looking at the guard crouching in front of him. Then to the plate. It was food. Not moldy bread, but real food. Vegetables. He could see some broccoli in it. The guard set the plate down in front of Luffy. _

"_Eat it."_

_Luffy reach out for the plate, hands shaking. Then he saw something in the plate move. Many things. Tiny things. A sudden rush of adrenaline surged through his body and his hands snapped away. Then he was them. Hundreds of them. Maggots eating away at the vegetables on the plate, crawling. _

"_T-Those are maggots…"_

"_So?"_

"_No…"_

_The guard pushed the plate closer to Luffy and the small child. "Eat it, or I'll force it down your throat._

"_No… It's gross… I can't…" Luffy pleaded, feeling sicker by the minute. _

"_I'll make you if you don't eat it right now!"_

_Luffy flinched and reached for the plate. He lifted it until it was just under his chin, balanced on his knees. He took the spoon and took a piece of lettuce from the plate. There were holes in it and small white creatures eating away at it. _

"_What are you waiting for!? You wanted food, you have it! Eat the damn thing!"_

_Closing his eyes, trying not to think about it, he downed the spoon of disgusting mesh and swallowed. He dropped the spoon and covered his mouth. He could feel them crawling around his throat as they fell into his stomach. He just wanted to throw it up. After the contents enter his stomach, he started coughing violently. _

"_Well, you're not done yet! Finish it!"_

_Luffy set the plate down on the ground as he kept coughing before gasping for air. "No. I don't want it anymore."_

_The guard cursed before picking up the plate. "Eat it!"_

"_No!" Luffy shouted. "No, I don't want it! Please stop!" _

_The guard grabbed the sides of Luffy's mouth with his fingers and forced it open, the plate of this so called "food" in his other hand. Luffy shook his head as the plate drew closer, unable to close his mouth. _

"_NO! I DON'T WANT IT! STOP IT!"_

"_Luffy!"_

"_I HATE VEGETABLES!"_

* * *

"LUFFY, WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Zoro raised his hand and smack Luffy across the cheek. His captain's eyes flung open and he sat up. His breathing was rapid. Luffy looked up at Ussop and Zoro, who were staring at him with worried eyes. Luffy stared back before his eyes widened. It was as if he were in a different world. He moved back, causing the hammock to flip over and dumped him onto the floor, along with his pillow and blanket.

"Luffy!" Zoro and Ussop lifted the pillow and blanket off of the teen. He was shivering violently, eye wide open with terror. His arms wrapped around himself, fingers digging into his shoulders.

"IhatevegetablesIhatevegetables…" He repeated those same words over and over again.

"Luffy, snap out of it!" Ussop shook Luffy by the shoulders. Luffy blinked before looking around and turning to the two in front of him. He smiled. After that, the little bastard had the nerve to smile.

"Oh, Ussop. Zoro. What's the matter?"

"What's the matter!?" Zoro shouted, pissed. "What's the matter!? You just had a mental fucking breakdown and you're asking _us_ what's the matter!?"

"Zoro, calm down." Ussop whispered, nervously, as he help Luffy sit up.

"What's the matter!? You were thrashing around and screaming and we couldn't find out what was wrong!" The green haired swordsman was furious. He was sick of that happy little facade Luffy put on all the time to hide his true feelings.

"Well, I can't remember what I was dreaming about…" Luffy muttered before a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face and he covered his mouth with his hands.

"Ussop, go get a bucket!" Zoro ordered. The long nose nodded and rushed out the door, returning immediately with a bucket. Luffy bent over the bucket and emptied everything in his stomach, which was only water, surprisingly.

_Oh yeah, the only thing Luffy ate today was a small plate of veggies._

Luffy exhaled and sent Ussop a grateful smile. "Thanks, Ussop."

"No problem." Ussop replied with a melancholy look on his face.

"Now, Luffy. Mind tell us what that was all about?" Zoro asked, eyes narrowing.

"Yes, I do mind. Drop it." Luffy stood up.

"You can't just-"

"Drop it, please." Luffy tried again, walking towards the door. Zoro grabbed Luffy by the wrist to stop him.

"Hey, Luffy. Why do you hate vegetables?"

Luffy gritted his teeth and ripped his arm away from his first mate's hand. "Drop it." He walked out the door and slammed it shut.

* * *

_Ace: Hey, Luffy. Why do you hate vegetables?_

_Luffy: … Drop it._

* * *

Omake:

Ace: I'm so worried! We should have given Luffy a Den Den Mushi!

Sabo: He'll be fine, Ace.

Ace: What about nightmares!? How will Luffy sleep without us to comfort him from nightmares!?

Sabo: He's not nine anymore…

Ace: You don't get it, Sabo! If Luffy doesn't get any sleep he'll get super cranky and massacre everyone and start nodding off and get himself killed because he can't pay attention and-

Sabo: Ace, he's not stupid! Besides, it's the East Blue! What can happen to him in the East Blue?

Ace: B-But… *pause* Fine, but I swear if they dare even give Luffy a paper cut I will stab their heads with pikes and let them rot in front of my door to ward off evil spirits!

Sabo: I swear, Luffy's extremeness has rubbed off on you, too.

* * *

**That's that! Don't worry, Sanji will warm up to Luffy in time!**

**Geez, what have I **_**not**_ **tortured Luffy with? You even tortured Luffy with FOOD, Riena!? You're one sick person. Just like Riena to put a horrifying story behind a cute and funny gag.**

**Sorry if my writing style was a bit weird this chapter. Whenever I have a running conversation between three or more characters I convert it into the Omake style I use. Or, I feel that extra detail will kill the mood, like in the last two lines. **

**This might be the longest chapter yet! *looks at chapter 7* FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-**

**Anyway, that's all! BYE!**

***Sorry if I didn't send you a review response I'll catch up this chapter***


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm back. Cheer for me. Not really, don't take me seriously. PFFFT!**

**We reached 200 reviews, people! HALLELUJAH~!**

**I'm not going to be typing a special, because I made you guys wait so long and I think you would enjoy some plot. **

**Sorry, this is going to be a very short chapter. I have many excuses and reasons for my lateness, but I don't think you want me to keep rambling about useless stuff. **

**If you **_**would**_ **enjoy one of my normal chapter specials then tell me! What would you like me to write for the 200 reviewer special?**

* * *

The next day they spent at Baratie was pretty average. Luffy kept trying to persuade Sanji to join and got denied every time. He's got kick in the face, sworn at, and Sanji kicked him out of the door. But none of this disheartened him. He kept coming back and latching onto Sanji like a goddamn leech. Owner Zeff kicked Luffy in the head and started ranting about the damage that Luffy had caused because of Patty and demanded that Luffy work at the restaurant to pay up. Fortunately, it only had to be for that day if Luffy was perfect.

There was only one -almost- casualty.

Only because some jackass didn't finish all his food and it took the straw hatted teen shoving the plate down the poor man's throat to make him eat it all.

* * *

A pirate named Don Krieg had barged into Baratie the next day, starved beyond belief. Gin begged the restaurant to feed him, but the cook absolutely refused. Sanji, being the kind hearted person he was offered the man some food. After Don Krieg's strength was rejuvenated, he proceeded to whack his savior out of the way and a bunch of needless violence broke out. Luffy just gulped down his soup as if nothing was happening. The pirate then began to rant about how he was, "DON KRIEG", and how he was the greatest. The mention of Red Leg Zeff, did however, catch Luffy's attention and he turned his head to the head chef with the braided beard and abnormally tall hat.

"That old man was a pirate…?" Luffy muttered.

Don Krieg continued to rant about information and recordings.

Luffy set him bowl of soup and stretched his limbs out. "That was delicious!" He yawned out.

Don Krieg seems incredibly annoyed with the sudden interruption and sent a glare towards the brat.

Luffy rubbed his eyes and turned to the pirate before waving a hand in dismissal. "Did I interrupt you? Sorry, continue on."

"Do you know who I am, you brat!?" Don Krieg growled.

"Huh?" Luffy stopped rubbing his eyes and held up a finger. "All I heard was," He cleared out his throat to prepare for his amazing imitation, "I'm Don Krieg, blah, blah, blah, I'm the strongest, blah, blah, blah! I'm also incredibly annoying! I love to interrupt people's meals! Blah, blah, blah! I just lacked information because I won't admit I'm actually not that strong, blah, blah, blah! Whitebeard? Never heard of him! Blah, blah, blah!" The straw hatted teen ended his mock rant with an exhale. Ussop doubled over, laughing, smacking the table.

"That's totally him!" The long nose said through fits of giggles.

"Planning a fight already, Luffy?" Zoro snorted in good humor. "Great imitation."

"Thank you!" Luffy grinned before taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me, brat!?" Don Krieg growled, causing many spectators to cringe.

"Of course I am." Luffy swallowed the part of the sandwich he bit off. "I'm the one who's going to be Pirate King after all. Can't have you standing in my way.

"Wa-Wait, Luffy!" Ussop shouted in panic. "He has an entire fleet!"

"Sounds interesting." Zoro shrugged.

"Not you too, Zoro!" Ussop sulked.

"That's your crew!?" The golden armored pirate broke out into a wild laugh.

"So?" Luffy glared. "Size doesn't mean power, now does it? How many people did it take for your crew to get annihilated?" He held up two fingers. "Also, I have two more. One is on the ship and the other is not cooperating with me."

Sanji's eyes became half lidded. "You counted me, didn't you."

Don Krieg gritted his teeth before grabbing his sack of food. "Even as a bluff, your comments show how completely ignorant you are."

"Ignorant, huh…" Luffy snorted. "I believe that you are the one who's being ignorant. Did you think you could sail into the Grand Line and then come back to this wayward sea -with a completely defeated crew I might add- saying that all you lacked was 'information'?"

"Stop provoking him, Luffy!" Ussop whispered, harshly, "Are you _trying_ to get us killed?"

"Sorry, Ussop. He just pissed me off a bit. Must be the sleep…" Luffy yawned again, making it look as mocking as possible.

Don Krieg swung the bag of food he received from Zeff over his shoulder. "Keep saying that an I'll kill you when I get back from giving this food to my crew." He grumbled. He then warned the rest of the customers to scram before he came back unless they wanted to die. Of course, all the customers ran out the back door right as Don Krieg left.

"Luffy! You just killed us!" Ussop shrieked.

"No, I didn't. We're still alive."

Zoro just rolled his eyes at his captain's reply.

Luffy blinked in realization. "Hey, anyone notice how his armor makes him look like a yellow turd?"

Ussop just cried in despair.

* * *

Omake:

Working at Baratie…

Luffy: Here's your food.

Nami: *snickers* Thank you, waiter!

Ussop: Ha!

Zoro: *takes a bite out of sandwich* Let, it tastes bad but what but what else can you expect from that stupid cook?

Luffy: I made that…

Strawhats: *blinks*

Zoro: U-Um…

Luffy: *panics* Is it not good, Zoro!?

Zoro: Luffy, it taste fine! I was just trying to insult Sanji-!

Luffy: What's wrong with it!? Did I food poison you!?

Zoro: No, you-!

Luffy: *snatches away sandwich* No! Don't eat it! I'll make a new one! *shoves down Ussop's throat and runs off*

Ussop: *gulps down sandwich* So you don't care if I get food poisoned!?

Nami: …

* * *

Omake:

Working at Baratie 2…

Person: Waiter! I'm done eating!

Luffy: I'm not a frickin' waiter… *walks over to table and looks over plates* You didn't finish the fruit.

Person: Yeah, I can't eat the rest of it.

Luffy: Finish it. You don't waste food here.

Person: I don't want to. You can't force me.

Luffy: *tick mark* Here, let me help you! *smiles and picks up bowl.*

* * *

Omake:

Ace: I got it!

Sabo: Got what?

Ace: I can turn myself into fire and reform into two separate beings and send one over to Luffy! I'll be in two places at the same time!

Sabo: …

Ace: It's the perfect plan! Genius!

Sabo: No, no it's not.

Ace: I'll hug Luffy so you can take a picture for the AceLu photo album if you let me try!

Sabo: *grabs camera from his trench coat* I'm ready! Fire away! *eyes start flashing*

Marco: *pinches the bridge of his nose* Idiots.

* * *

**Short, I know. **

**Woah, it's shorter than Chapter Two. Now that's an accomplishment. **

**I added three omakes that I'm kind of proud of though, so I hope you enjoyed. School is a drag right now so I'll update when I can. Thank you for reading.**

**BYE!**


	14. Updates, Hiatus, Complaints, FUN TIMES!

Okay, here's the deal, my dear readers. I will not be updating this story for a while (as you can tell from the 3 month absence I had). What's going to be happening is, I am putting this story on hiatus. Yes, I know, what a jerky thing to do after a 3 month absence. The thing is, I am just lacking so much motivation. Plus, school projects and annoying things I don't want to take care of are also in the way. I can come up with more excuses, but that would just take up your time and this is just a small update in this story's status. Will I update this story again someday, definitely a yes. Will that be soon, probably no. This is just for those people who haven't seen my profile yet. I updated my writing status on there at least a few months ago and some people just don't bother to go there and read through it to find out what's up. Not to be a jerk, I know that I only wrote a sentence or two about my writing status but it at least gives you the gist of what was going on.

Not to mention the reviews I've gotten recently-ish.

Dear guest or guests,

I _know_ you want another chapter, but come on. I'm sorry if these are actually different people just typing the same things coincidentally, but seriously? If you are just the same person leaving guest reviews over and over, not only is that annoying, it seriously does not help my motivation. Basically, every review just says, "please update soon, I like this a lot." Yeah, I know it's hard to create some nice, long, constructive, and encouraging reviews (trust me, I've been there several times) but can you at least _not_ just type one sentence and leave it at that? It really makes me question whether you take what you're staying to heart or just spitting words into a box.

Again, I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a total jerk but when I get a new email from fanfiction in my inbox (which is already over flooded with fanfiction emails), I realize it's a review, and it only ends up being some one sentence saying, "Pretty please update" or something like that, I just feel disappointed in myself.

_Again_, I'm also sorry if this is just different people reviewing as a guest and leaving a one sentence review, but come on! I got 4 guest reviews on the same chapter, and I never get guest reviews, ever.

It's like I have a six sense, I can sniff it out, you know? Wait, that would just feeding into smell. . . It's my sixth sense for scents- wait, what?

Cough, anyway. Yeah, that's all I have to say for now. I haven't given up on this story yet, I'm not Togashi (he's the true hiatus hiatus fruit user). Consider it as. . . those times mangakas take a break to do research for their story or something like that.

Well then, I should wrap it up now. This update is too long as it is. That's all of now!

BYE! (but not forever.)


	15. Chapter 14

"Ooh! You're talking about Hawky!"

The occupants of the restaurant sent him questioning gazes. Luffy just smiled while holding up a finger in all knowingness. Gin's eyes stared at him in complete disbelief. His nerve had been disintegrating as he continued to tell his devastating tale. A single man had destroyed the entire Don Fleet. A man with eyes as sharp as a hawk. His entire body had recoiled in fear as the memories flooded back. Yet, this boy. He was smiling and referring to the man with a tone almost akin to warmth.

"You know Hawkeye!?" Zoro abruptly stood up in excitement.

"Hm?" Luffy turned to see his first mate, who looked absolutely awed. "Yeah, I know Hawky. He stops by from time to time to drink with Oyaji." Luffy's smile morphed into a grin. "You should see him when he's piss poor drunk. It's the best thing ever."

Sanji sent Luffy an incredulous look before turning back to Gin. "Why did he attack, though? Some kind of grudge?"

"We've never done anything to him!" Gin defended.

Luffy let out a huff as he leaned back against the table. "Hawky doesn't seem like someone who would hold a grudge. You probably disturbed him, or something. Or, he was incredibly bored."

"That's bullshit! Why would he attack because of that!?" Gin shouted lividly.

The straw hatted teen snorted. "No, it's not. You still don't understand the crime you commited?"

"What!?"

"You woke him up," the teen deadpanned. Gin dumbly stared at him, unable to comprehend the newfound information. "He gets really grouchy, if you do that!" Luffy continued to explain. "He almost cut Thatch's arm off when the guy tried to play a prank. Told him it was a stupid idea." He sighed with a shrugged. "Really, I get that information isn't very important, but this is the _East Blue_. As in the most wayward and weak sea on the planet. You should've at least known to keep on your toes. I'm disappointed."

Gin didn't understand why, but the way the kid pouted really made him feel ashamed.

"You sound like a mother," Zoro snorted. Ussop nodded in agreement. Luffy stiffened before melting into a puddle of whines.

"Zoro, take that back!" he protested as he clinged onto the swordsman.

"Get off me, you overgrown child!"

"That's rude," the boy drawled. Zoro shoved him away and plopped back down into his chair.

"Well, it looks like my goal is tied to the Grandline, now," the moss head said with a smirk.

Sanji scoffed before taking a smoke. "Looks like you people are ready to rush to your deaths," he muttered.

"I'll take that in an affectionate way," Luffy replied, ignoring the fact that Sanji looked ready to explode. "We're not going to die."

"I agree!" Ussop puffed his chest out with courage, though his insides were crying.

Patty gritted his teeth. "Are you all stupid?" he growled. "That gigantic galleon that's floating outside of our restaurant belongs to Don Krieg! He's the strongest pirate in all of the East Blue! You got that!? You can continue this conversation after you've found a way to get us out of this mess!" His pitchfork as pointed directly at Luffy, who sat a few tables away.

The a sound escaped the boy's mouth, resembling an, "Ugh." He jumped off the table and appeared right in front of Patty. The giant man blinked before looking down at the teen. "First of all, you shouldn't point a pitchfork at me. That's pretty rude." He grabbed the end of the weapon and broke it off from the handle. The splinters of wood bounced off the floor before resting against the floor. "Second of all, don't underestimate me. It's really annoying." The ebony haired teen dropped the weapon. It's clanking echoed through the dining room. His face loosened up and he smiled, rather sweetly. "Glad you understand!"

Sanji was ready to tear his hair out, with this kid.

All of a sudden, endless cheering and the clattering sound of feet filled the air. All of the cook brace themselves for the attack. "They're coming! Protect the restaurant!"

Luffy held a look of boredom before his eyes sharpened. Zoro seemed to notice and he grabbed his katanas. "What is it, Luffy?"

"Hawky," he whispered, too low for anyone to hear.

The sound of a blade slicing an object rang in his ears. The enormous galleon outside broke up into three pieces, plummeting into the unforgiving waters. Awestruck men had no idea how to react. Baratie shook violently, against the giant waves. Zeff frantically took his cooks to raise the anchor.

"Shit! Our ship's still out there!" Zoro cursed over the mayhem.

"It might be too late!" Ussop replied, in pessimistic fashion. They three rushed outside in panic. Yosaku and Johnny eagerly tried to stay afloat, over the waves. The ship was gone. Nami was nowhere to be seen. Luffy assumed the worst.

"Where's Nami!?" Luffy shouted down at the duo.

"She's not with us, anymore!" the two cried out.

"What the hell do you mean!?" Luffy's distraught eyes spastically scanned waters. "Where is she!?"

"Sister Nami," they bawled, "took the treasure and sailed away!"

"What!?" the trio shrieked. Luffy's hand tightened around the railing and his jaw clenched. He turned his head to look for the ship before spotting it, in the distance. It had already sailed quite a distance. Enough to not be disturbed by the abnormally large waves.

"Yosaku, Johnny!" Luffy shouted. "Do you still have your boat!?"

"Yeah!"

The teen stretched his hand out and flung them both onto the deck. "Get it ready! We're going after Nami!"

"It's a waste of time, Luffy. No good will come out of it," Zoro tried to reason. Ussop immediately objected, saying the ship was important. Luffy sighed before his eyes hardened.

"We're going after Nami."

Zoro stiffened before bring a palm up to his forehead. "Fine, you stubborn captain. Let's-"

"It's him!" A voice cried, effectively cutting Zoro off. "That man who destroyed our ship! He's back to kill us!"

Luffy's hands started to tighten when he saw the realization dawn upon his swordsman's face. "Zoro. . ." he warned. Anticipation made the man twitch. An animalistic smirk appeared on his lips. "You want to fight him."

"You won't stop me."

Luffy pursed his lips before nodding. "I won't." Zoro untied his bandana from his arm and started walking towards the man. The teen watched Zoro's fascination when Mihawk deflected bullets with his black blade. The admiration, the suspense, the awe. No, he wouldn't stop Zoro.

Mihawk's eyes were half lidded. As if he were question why this small rabbit was challenging the big, bad wolf. "What do you aim for?"

"To be the strongest."

* * *

**Hi, friends. . . **

***Gets a tomato to the face*. Yeah, I deserved that. **

**Well, I'm back! Wow, how long has it been? I'm surprised I was gone for this long. Writer's block can really be a hassle. Anyway, it's good to be back. I'm not sure if this chapter was satisfactory, but it's gotten me back into the system. I'll try to get back into the monthly chapters thing. **

**I want to thank everyone for their support throughout the hiatus. You were all so nice to me! It's embarrassing *blushes*. Also, thank you to **_**i'm so sorry**_ **for telling me about the whole review thing. I'm glad that you decided to tell me. **

**Anyway, that's all, for now! BYE!**


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